2023 OFVAA Instructor Biographies
June 5-9, 2023
Bertram Lyons, Medex Forensics
Bertram Lyons is the CEO at Medex Forensics. Bertram has over 20 years of experience leading consultants and development teams to manage large collections of digital assets and data, and to create innovative, flexible, and user-center software for clients where digital assets are a core function of their organization. His background specializations include the acquisition, management, and preservation of evidential, documentary, research, corporate, and cultural heritage collections.
Before founding Medex Forensics, Bert served as Managing Director for Software at AVP, an information innovation company, and prior to that worked as a digital archivist for the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress. Bert has supported migration and software development projects for organizations nationwide, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the JFK Presidential Library Foundation, HBO, Paramount Pictures, University of Kentucky, Indiana University, Yale University, Facebook, Spotify, among many others.
Bert is an Associate Member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) and an active member of the Scientific Working Group on Digital Evidence (SWGDE). He has received certification from the Academy of Certified Archivists and is a graduate of the Archives Leadership Institute. He holds an MA in museum studies with a focus in American studies and archival theory from the University of Kansas.
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Grant Fredericks, Axon Investigate
Grant Fredericks is a LEVA Certified Forensic Video Analyst. He was a contract instructor for the FBI National Academy for over 20 years, and currently a contract instructor for the FBI's Police Leadership programs. He was the Lead Forensic Video Instructor for LEVA from 1998 to 2014. As a consultant for Major Crime and Joint Forces Operations involving video evidence, Grant has provided technical assistance for high‐profile investigations in the UK, Canada, the United States and in many other jurisdictions around the world.
Grant was the Technical Manager for a large-scale criminal investigation in 2011 involving over 5,000 hours of video evidence, directing the work of fifty forensic video analysts from the US, Canada and the UK. His work won the IACP’s top award for Technical Advances in a Criminal Investigation. Grant is a consultant to the US Department of Justice, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Institute of Justice and is a co‐author of the standards document Digital Video Systems Minimum Performance Specifications for Digital In‐Car Video Recording Systems for US law enforcement agencies. Grant is a former police officer and coordinator of the Vancouver Police Forensic Video Unit in Canada.
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David Spreadborough, Amped FIVE
David served as a UK police officer for 24 years, the final 12 of which were spent as a CCTV investigator. He was the first LEVA Certified Forensic Video Analyst in Europe and remains one of only four outside of North America. Since working with Amped Software, David has provided a key role in the development of Amped Software’s technical training, as well as spreading his passion for jurisprudence reform through the latest technological innovations. He is still a practicing Forensic Video Analyst and has frequently been called as an expert witness to assist legal teams and law enforcement with on-going criminal investigations.
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Eugene Liscio, ai2-3D
Eugene Liscio is a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario, Canada and is the owner of ai2-3D, a consulting company that specializes in 3D forensic documentation, analysis and visualizations. In May of 2022, he released a new iPhone 3D scanning app called Recon-3D, which is dedicated to Forensics. Eugene has testified in court in both the US, Canada, and in Europe, utilizing 3D technologies such as photogrammetry, laser scanning, structured light scanners and more. He is the Past-President of the International Association of Forensic and Security Metrology (IAFSM) and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, where he teaches a 3D Forensic Reconstruction and Mapping course as part of the Forensic Sciences Program. Eugene is actively engaged in research, mentoring students, and publishing his work which focuses on 3D documentation and analysis techniques. Most recently, he became an Adjunct Professor at Laurentian University to assist post-graduate students in pursuing further research.
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Detective Constable Nick Harris
Detective Constable Nick Harris is currently a member of the Peel Regional Police Service and in his 21st year. His current assignment is to Forensic Identification Services and has worked as a Forensic Specialist for the last 7 years.
Born and educated in England, he obtained a BSc Hons Degree in Podiatric Medicine in 1995 from Salford University. Working in private practice, Nick developed his interest in human biomechanics and movement as it applied to the elite athlete.
In 2002, Nick emigrated with his wife to Canada where continuing in the profession of podiatry became difficult and a change of profession was called for, joining the world of policing in 2003. In 2016, Nick joined the forensic identification services of Peel Regional Police and soon found that his previous profession and education had application in the forensic world as it pertained to criminal investigations.
Nick has received advanced training in footwear impression examinations, and one of a handful of qualified barefoot morphologists in Canada. He is the only Certified Forensic Gait Analyst currently known to be based in Canada. Nick has been qualified as an expert witness in two separate forensic specialties, and has received numerous commendations and requests for his expertise through his work in the field of forensics.
Nick is currently involved in three, and a mentor in two forensic degree research projects, looking at the role of podiatry in forensic medicine, the reliability of wearable tech and its use in criminal investigations, and determining the ability of an eyewitness to perform gait analysis in human identification. Nick is also undertaking his own studies and is hoping to finish a Bachelor of Forensic Identification degree later this year.
Nick is heavily involved in the training and education of others. He is a qualified DNA warrant, order, and endorsement trainer. He regularly presents the forensic components of Major Case Management training, death investigation training, and has trained over 400 officers and civilians in the collection of DNA samples for criminal investigations.