About

Mike Darling

Memberships

- International Association for Identification

- Former member of the California State Division of the International Association for Identification

- Forensic Investigators Group (founding member)

- California Friction Ridge Study Group

Training

• Over 1,900 hours of documented training in the area of criminal investigation and crime scenes

  • Advanced crime scene investigation and reconstruction

  • Advanced fingerprint and palm print comparisons

  • Bloodshed interpretation

  • Interview and interrogation techniques

  • Intermediate traffic collision investigation

  • Photography

  • And numerous additional classes

• Cogent Users Group International, educational conference, 2011-2018

• Over a thousand hours of additional self-directed study in the above topics

After 23 years with the Redding Police Department, I honorably retired and started my own forensic consulting and investigation business.  

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Now, I do forensic consulting, speak at conferences (I have lectured in Europe, as well as in the United States), provide expert witness testimony in court and train in forensic topics.

During my career at RPD (2-7-94 to 3-6-17), I:

   - testified in Shasta County Superior Court and U.S. District Court (Northern District of California and Eastern District of California) as an expert witness in criminal and civil cases

   - conducted thousands of interviews with victims, suspects and witnesses.

   - conducted numerous investigations at homicides, sexual assaults, officer involved shootings, traffic collisions and property crime scenes

   - reviewed reports, photographs and evidence collected from crime scenes to determine further areas of investigation

   - prepared detailed crime scene diagrams and reports for case files and court

   - consulted on case work for other law enforcement agencies, as far away as Ontario, Canada

   - taught crime scene investigation, fingerprinting, fingerprint and  palm print comparisons, courtroom testimony and photography to RPD employees, other law enforcement agencies, California DOJ and at local colleges

   - compared thousands of finger and palm prints

   - worked with our AFIS system (Cogent)

   - supervised major crime scenes to ensure proper completion

   - prepared and gave public affairs presentations