Adjunct Professor Jim Wolfe, forensic scientist, departs UAA Justice Center faculty

Prof. Wolfe (l) accepts best wishes and thanks from Dr. André Rosay (r),
Justice Center Director, at the farewell lunch.

Adjunct Professor Jim Wolfe taught his last Criminal Investigation class for the Justice Center on Friday, April 24.  The Justice Center gave a farewell lunch for Prof. Wolfe and presented him with a Seawolf sweatshirt.

After retiring from the State Crime Lab in 2004, Prof. Wolfe began teaching Introduction to Forensic Science, as well as Criminal Investigation, at the Justice Center.

Prof. Wolfe is also a certified police instructor for physical evidence collection and preservation, and he regularly taught at the Alaska Public Safety Academy while at UAA.  He plans to continue his recent teaching at the UAF-CTC Law Enforcement Academy in Fairbanks. Prof. Wolfe's specialty is photographing and casting impressions - tire, footprint, etc. He is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences on techniques for capturing impressions in snow.

His valuable contribution to Justice students and the Justice Center will be remembered - and we are sure trace evidence will linger for a long time. 

Jim Wolfe appeared on a 2002 segment of "Forensic Files"
during his time at the State Crime Lab.

Prof. Wolfe tests a fast setting plaster in Fairbanks.

Prof. Wolfe photographing snow impressions.

Prof. Wolfe presents at the 2014 International
Association of Identification.

Dr. Allen Ault speaks about his "40 Years in Corrections" for National Criminal Justice Month

Dr. Ault stresses a point during his presentation.

About 75 UAA students, faculty, and members of the public gathered on March 2 to hear  Dr. Allen Ault, Dean of the College of Justice & Safety at Eastern Kentucky University, share his 40 years of experience in corrections. Dr. Ault discussed the "War on Drugs" and the rapid rise in incarceration rates in the U.S., the disproportionate number of minority individuals who are incarcerated, the shift in corrections as rehabilitative to punitive, the rising number of inmates with mental health concerns, and the issue of capital punishment.

This event was sponsored by the Justice Center, the Pre-Law Society, and the Justice Club as part of National Criminal Justice Month. Dr. Troy Payne and Prof. Jason Brandeis, J.D., are the Justice Center faculty advisors for this event. Our thanks to Rich Curtner, an adjunct faculty member at the Justice Center, and Alaskans Against the Death Penalty for bringing Dr. Ault to Alaska and making possible Dr. Ault’s presentation at this event.

A podcast and Dr. Ault's Powerpoint presentation are on the Justice Center website.

Media mention

• "Ex-Dept. Of Justice Official to Alaska Students: We Can Do Better" by John Aronno. Alaska Commons, 3 Mar 2015.

L to r: Prof. Jason Brandeis, J.D.; Dr. Troy Payne; Dr. Allen Ault;
Camilla Hussein, Pre-Law Society President; Rich Curtner, Adjunct Faculty,
and Chair, Alaskans Against the Death Penalty

Prof. Wolfe presents on snow impression evidence at forensic science conference

Prof. Jim Wolfe, Justice Center adjunct faculty, will be presenting at the 2014 International Association of Identification International Education Conference this summer.

His presentation, "Photographing and Casting Snow Impression Evidence," will review techniques for photographing and casting snow impressions; the use of sprays and oblique light to enhance contrast on different types of snow for photography; and the use of dental stone, fast setting plaster, and sulfur cement casting and type of snow and weather conditions.

Prof. Wolfe is a former forensic scientist with the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, and is currently a forensic consultant and trainer.

Left: Valdez Police Dept. officers in Prof. Wolfe's training class work on collecting snow impression evidence.

Prof. Wolfe talks about preserving tracks outdoors at Eagle River Nature Center

Prof. Wolfe with brown bear track.

Prof. Jim Wolfe, Justice Center adjunct faculty, presented a program at the Eagle River Nature Center on March 9 entitled "Hot on the Trail of Animal Tracks."

Using techniques normally used for collecting shoe print and tire track evidence at crime scenes, Prof. Wolfe demonstrated how to photograph and cast animal tracks outdoors, including in the snow.

Prof. Wolfe is a former forensic scientist with the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, and is currently a forensic consultant and trainer.

Professor Wolfe featured in free webinar on snow impression evidence on January 29

Example of snow cast process -
Top: Fresh snow print.
Middle: Coating of gray primer on snow print.
Bottom: Plaster cast of snow print.

Prof. Jim Wolfe, Justice adjunct faculty, co-presents a free webinar on photographing and casting snow impression evidence such as shoe prints, tire tracks, and snow machine impression.  The webinar is sponsored by Forensic Science Education, RTI International.

 Title: Collecting Footwear and Tire Impressions in the Snow
Date: Wednesday,  January 29,
Time: 9:00 a.m. Alaska Standard Time
Cost: Free
To register: Click here to register for this free webinar.

From footwear to tire to snowmobile impressions, snow impressions can provide extremely valuable evidence in helping to resolve criminal investigations. Unfortunately, photographing and obtaining a cast of a snow impression is often a challenge for the crime scene examiner. This presentation will review techniques for photographing and casting snow impressions found at the crime scene. Methods for utilizing dental stone, fast setting plaster, and sulfur cement casting of snow impressions will be examined, showing how the type of snow and weather conditions may determine which casting technique to use.

Presenters:
Jim Wolfe became interested in snow impression evidence in the early 1980’s while working with the Alaska Fish and Wildlife Protection Crime Lab. He transferred to the Alaska State Crime Lab in 1985 and began researching innovative ways to document and collect snow impressions, teaching these techniques to law enforcement officers across Alaska. After retiring from the crime lab in 2004, Jim continues to work as a traveling trainer providing local and regional instruction in impression evidence, forensic photography, and general physical evidence collection.He is an adjunct faculty member at the UAA Justice Center.

Lesley Hammer is a Forensic Examiner with experience in latent print, footwear and tire track, and crime scene disciplines. She holds professional certifications in Forensic Footwear Examination (IAI, CIS), Criminalistics (ABC) and Crime Scene Analysis (IAI) and an MSc in Forensics from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

Prof. Wolfe mentors South High student in forensics

Prof. Jim Wolfe, Justice adjunct faculty, provided a forensic science mentorship last winter to South Anchorage High School student, Jacob Crapps. Prof. Wolfe is a former forensic scientist with the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, and is currently a forensic consultant and trainer. 

Jacob Crapps assisted Prof. Wolfe in preparing for a presentation at the 2013 International Association of Identification International Conference held in Rhode Island in August.

At the conference, Prof. Wolfe presented, "Optimizing Techniques for Photographing and Casting Snow Impression Evidence," which focused on improved ways to photograph and cast snow impressions of things such as shoe prints and tire tracks.

Jacob is presently a senior at South High, and plans to study engineering or science in college.  See photos below of their work.

Jacob Crapps conducts photo tests with an oblique light source.

Prof. Wolfe conducts snow impression photography tests near Byron Glacier.

Prof. Wolfe tests a fast setting plaster in Fairbanks.

Prof. Wolfe presents on snow impression evidence

Prof. James Wolfe, Justice Center adjunct faculty, has been invited to make a presentation on August 12, 2011 on "Documenting and Collecting Snow Impression Evidence" at the International Association for Identification (IAI) in Milwaukee. He will be discussing the unique challenges to crime scene analysts posed by photographing and casting snow impressions. Part of his presentation will include work done in conjunction with Victor Gonzalez, a South Anchorage High School senior he has been mentoring. Victor is considering a career in forensic science, and under Prof. Wolfe's guidance he assisted with a research project to optimize techniques for casting snow impressions using dental stone (a type of plaster).

The IAI is the world's oldest and largest forensic science/identification organization. Members are from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, private practice, and academic and judicial communities.

Prof. Wolfe also lectured on "Snow Impression Evidence" to the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in Vancouver in February 2011. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Criminalistics, a national certification for forensic scientists and criminalists. In addition to teaching courses at the Justice Center, Prof. Wolfe travels throughout the state making training presentations to law enforcement agencies.

Pictured above: A North Slope Borough Police Department officer casting a snow impression.

ACLU Liberty Awards dinner honors Justice Center faculty and former director

The ACLU of Alaska Liberty Awards Dinner on January 22, 2011 honored 40 Alaskan individuals and organizations as "Heroes of Constitutional Rights," including John Havelock, the first Justice Center Director, and John McKay, Justice Center Adjunct Professor.

The ACLU Liberty Awards honor those individuals and organizations who have led the way in creating a state that honors and protects personal freedom, individual liberty, and constitutional and civil rights.