Death Scene Analysis
Michael brings with him almost fourteen years of experience in law enforcement as a police officer/detective with a large police agency in Florida. Currently a detective with the Traffic Homicide Unit, Michael was a full time crime scene investigator for nearly seven years. Michael served for two years as a DUI enforcement officer, and he has dedicated much of his career to traffic investigation and enforcement. Michael has investigated over 5,000 crime scenes, over 300 death cases, over 350 impaired driving cases and over 500 traffic accidents including numerous fatal and life-threatening traffic crashes. Michael has performed detailed traffic crash reconstructions in numerous accident cases, including performing analysis to establish both cause and contribution to the crash. He has performed analysis to deal with such issues as who had the red light. Michael has also dealt with extensive crime scene reconstruction cases including police shootings, multiple shooters, and beating deaths. Michael was selected as police officer of the month for his efforts in reconstructing a severe beating death case, and was nominated for the award on two other occasions for his performance as a crime scene investigator.
He is currently a senior at the University of North Florida nearing completion of a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering. Michael has an Associate of Science degree in Criminal Justice Technology from Florida Community College at Jacksonville, as well as an Associate in Arts degree. Michael has completed over 2,000 hours of specialized law enforcement training at the Institute of Police Technology and Management, the Northeast Florida Criminal Justice Training Center, and the St. Augustine Criminal Justice Academy. Michael served for several years as training coordinator for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Crime Scene Unit and teaches classes in crime scene procedures, shooting incident reconstruction, death investigations, bloodstain pattern analysis, and crime scene reconstruction.
Michael has spent hundreds of hours testifying at trial, in motion hearings, in deposition, and in driver improvement hearings and has provided detailed testimony in homicide, robbery, impaired driving, traffic accident, and other felony cases in both the criminal and civil arenas. Michael has provided expert-level deposition testimony in the areas of traffic accident reconstruction, crime scene reconstruction, shooting incidents, and bloodstain pattern analysis. He has testified at trial as an expert witness in shooting incident reconstruction, bloodstain pattern analysis, and crime scene reconstruction.
Michael has published several impaired driving-related articles in such periodicals as the Calibre Press Street Survival Newsline, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Patrol News, and Southern Lawman Magazine. He is coauthor of an electronic crime scene training book entitled Crime Scene Processing.
Michael is an experienced crime scene photographer with hundreds of hours behind a camera. He is fully capable of photographing even the most challenging forensic evidence. He has extensive experience with laser mapping using both Sokkia Total Station and LTI laser equipment. He has drawn hundreds of diagrams for both crime scene and traffic homicide investigations using CrashZone/CrimeZone software.
Michael regularly presents crime scene investigation lectures to community and school groups. He has appeared before such groups as the Sheriff's Advisory Committee (SHADCO), Sisters in Crime, the Citizen's Police Academy, and Mandarin High School forensic science students. Michael has appeared on several local news broadcasts dealing with impaired driving. He has also presented impaired driving education for the United States Navy.
Crime Scene Processing
Crime Scene Reconstruction
Bloodstain Pattern Analysis
Shooting Incident Reconstruction
Death Scene Analysis
Michael F. LaForte retired
from the Jacksonville (FL) Sheriff's Office in August 2003 after more
than 29 years of service.
From 1975 to 1988, Mike worked in patrol riding beats in downtown
Jacksonville and on the city's Eastside. He was Police Officer of the
Month in November 1982. In November 1983, Mike was awarded the Medal
of Valor for his actions in a bank robbery and shootout while off duty.
In July 1988, Mike transferred to the Crime Scene Unit. He has
investigated over 9500 crime scenes and has taken more than 150,000
crime scene photographs. Since that time, he has processed more than 800 death scenes
which include more than 500 homicide scenes. In November 1993, Mike
recovered bloody fingerprints from a deceased human body using only an
alternate light source and photography. The fingerprints were
identified through AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System),
and the suspect was in custody within 24 hours. The suspect confessed to
the murder, as well as two others, making him a serial killer.
From March 2001 until his retirement, Mike was assigned as the
instructor and training coordinator for the JSO Crime Scene Unit. He
oversaw all training for the unit's 27 crime scene detectives, as well
as training detective personnel from other units, patrol officers and police recruit classes
on crime scene procedures.
In October 2000, Mike was again awarded Police Officer of the Month
for his work at numerous homicide scenes.
During his fifteen years as a crime scene investigator, Mike attended
numerous schools for crime scene processing, photography, entomology,
buried bodies, traffic homicide investigations and death scene
investigations.
Mike is a certified instructor through Florida's Criminal Justice
Standards and Training Commission. He is an adjunct instructor for crime
scene programs with the Institute of Police Technology and Management
and an adjunct instructor at
Florida Community College at Jacksonville teaching law enforcement and
crime scene procedures to recruits at the Northeast Florida Criminal
Justice Training Center. He is a member of the International Association
for Identification and the Florida Division of the International
Association for Identification.
Mike has trained law enforcement personnel from around the United States.