Forensic Workshop Series - Online Courses
Forensic Workshop Series with Andrea Zaferes
With 31 years working in the fields of diving education, diving rescue and fatality investigation, 27 years in the public safety dive/water rescue community, 20 years in aquatic fatality investigations and 14 years working as a medicolegal death investigator for Dutchess County Medical Examiner office, Andrea works with TeamLGS teaching fire, law enforcement, EMS, death investigators, prosecutors, and military personnel. She is a noted innovator in aquatic death investigation. Andrea is the NYS Department of Criminal Justice Services Aquatic Death Investigation Instructor, has more than 100 publications, is an aquatic consultant for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, has presented at more than 175 forensic, diving and rescue conferences, has taught over 5,000 law enforcement/death investigators in her Aquatic Death and Homicidal Drowning Investigation program series, and serves as a body-found-in-water expert witness. Andrea has received national and international awards such as the DAN-Rolex Diver of the Year and Beneath the Sea Diver of the Year.
Diver Fatality Investigations and Incident Prevention
Learn about investigative procedures, what happens at autopsy, and why these cases can be so challenging. Then apply this information to improve early accident recognition and injury/fatality prevention. We will also discuss what to do if you witness, or are involved in, a dive accident.
Two important missions of diving fatality investigation are preventing future similar occurrences and helping to insure that justice occurs from civil suits and criminal prosecutions. This workshop is useful for anyone who is interested in either mission and for dive professionals who want to be better prepared to prevent and manage possible litigation. The workshop will consist of the steps and procedures that are used to investigate diver fatalities, including: What Information is analyzed and why; how to read autopsy reports -- what they can and can’t tell us; law enforcement and death investigation reports; witness statements; data collection from dive logs and what questions to ask; environment variables; dive equipment tests; evaluation of dive leaders, dive boat buddies, and more.
Who should attend:
Dive leaders, public safety divers, law enforcement, medicolegal death investigators, and advanced divers will gain invaluable knowledge about dive accident prevention, early recognition, and investigation. You need to know what to document, what evidence to secure, and what to get from witnesses. Increase safety and decrease liability.
Aquatic Crimes Against Women (ACAW) Homicides Staged as Drowning Accidents or Suicides
ACACW are often fatal, are too often misdiagnosed as accidents, suicides, or natural deaths, and occur more frequently than is currently understood. Forms include aquatic: nonfatal IPV, sexual assault and sadism, homicide, land-based homicides staged as non-criminal drowning. homicidal drowning, and elder abuse. These cases present 16 main challenges. They’re typically treated as accidental drowning from the time of dispatch right through to cause and manner of death diagnosis. Law enforcement, medical personnel, IPV workers, and jurisprudence members almost never have training to recognize, identify, document, investigate and prosecute them. Drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion. These are mainly circumstantial evidence cases. This presentation will present ACAW red flags and provide a practical, proven investigative framework.
This course is a 3hr Video Webinar with Andrea Zaferes
8 Handouts
20 Question Examination
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Each student will receive a completion certification with several credits and 5 CPD hours
The Pathophysiology of Drowning - Online Workshop
Drowning is one of the most common form of injury related deaths worldwide. This workshop covers the complex pathophysiology of the drowning process, terminology changes, myths, the diagnosis of drowning, epidemiology, and a current literature review.
8 Handouts
36 Question Examination
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Each student will receive a completion certification with several credits and 5 CPD hours