About the Nebraska IAI Chapter

On August 4, 1915, Inspector Harry H. Caldwell of the Oakland (California) Police Department’s Bureau of Identification wrote numerous letters to “Criminal Identification Operators” asking them to meet in Oakland for the purpose of forming an organization to further the aims of the identification profession. A group of twenty-two men met (women were initially not allowed as members) and, as a result, the “International Association for Criminal Identification” was founded in October, 1915, with Inspector Caldwell as the presiding officer. In 1918 the word “Criminal” was dropped from the organization’s name. Today, the IAI is the oldest and largest forensic science organization in existence worldwide. There are members from over 43 countries and all 50 states.

The Nebraska Division of the IAI was formed in 1984 at a meeting held at the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center in Grand Island, and officially chartered at the IAI International meeting in Alaska in June 1984. The purpose of the Nebraska chapter was to mirror the goals of the International parent body and to foster training for forensic practitioners within Nebraska.