User:Jmorreyc/sandbox/John M. Collins Jr.



John M. Collins Jr. is an American forensic science expert and the Principal Consultant and Instructor for the Forensic Foundations Group. He is also the Chief Managing Editor of Crime Lab Report, and is a promoter of modern HR practices in forensic science organizations. Collins advocates for the responsible use of scientific evidence in the American criminal justice system through the building of advanced professional competencies and the reduction of legal adversarialism in evaluating the weight and admissibility of expert testimony. Collins' career in the forensic laboratory sciences spanned approximately twenty years, from 1992 to 2012 after serving as the Director of Forensic Science for the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Division in Lansing, Michigan. Among his most significant writings was an article published in 2013 titled 10 Criteria Defining a Model Forensic Science Laboratory. In 2009, Collins coauthored The Wrongful Conviction of Forensic Science with his friend and colleague, Jay Jarvis, in 2009. Their work suggested evidence of rhetorical excess on the part of innocence activists in the United States. In 2015, they expanded their research into a full review of post-conviction exonerations, called The Innocence Audit, which seeks to identify and describe instances of legal misconduct in the securing of post-conviction exonerations, with an emphasis on those involving scientific evidence.

Personal Life
John M. Collins Jr. was born near Detroit, Michigan on April 5, 1970 to John and Sharon Collins. John Sr. was the Director of Human Resources for Giffels Associates in Southfield, Michigan. Sharon was a advocate for elderly health and the senior activities director for the Older Persons Center in Rochester, Michigan. In 1983, young John became fascinated by media coverage leading up to the 20th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Collins credits two books about the assassination - Four Days and Best Evidence - as sparking his interest not only in forensic science but in the sciences of ballistics and firearm identification, which eventually became his core areas of expertise. While studying forensic science at Michigan State University, Collins was a four-year, record-breaking discus thrower for the Spartans' Track & Field team. He coached varsity high school track & field in Batavia, Illinois for approximately 10 years. He now lives near Lansing, Michigan with his wife of 20 years, Mary, and their two children.

Laboratory Career
Collins' career in forensic science began in 1992 as an intern at the Michigan State Police forensic science laboratory in Sterling Heights. In 1993 he was hired and began his training as a firearm & toolmark examiner at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Division of Forensic Sciences headquarters laboratory near Atlanta. Staff at the nearby forensic laboratory operated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (AFT) took an interest in Collins and encouraged him to apply for a vacant position. Collins was hired by the ATF in 1998 where he worked for two years. Struggling with a longstanding desire to return to the Midwest, Collins and his wife, now pregnant with their first child, moved to the Chicago area where Collins took a job as a firearm examiner at the DuPage County Crime Laboratory, approximately 30 miles west of Chicago. When the laboratory's director retired in August of 2000, Collins was promoted to the position of laboratory director at the age of 30. Under Collins' leadership, the DuPage County Crime Laboratory became only the 4th forensic science organization in the United States to earn international accreditation under the ISO/IEC 17025 standard. In 2010, Collins returned to his home state of Michigan where he became the first-ever civilian employee to be recruited and hired from outside the Michigan State Police to assume command of its 7 forensic science laboratories.

Despite the very worst of circumstances facing the Michigan State Police forensic science laboratories at the time of his hiring, Collins and his team led the laboratories to their first-ever international accreditation in 2012 - what Collins now calls the "singularly proudest moment of my career." Prior to Collins' arrival, the City of Detroit in 2008, under significant pressure from Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, shuttered its own crime laboratory after 80 years in service. The caseload previously handled by the Detroit laboratory was immediately, as Collins puts it, "dumped" on the Michigan State Police laboratories, driving case backlogs to over 20,000 cases. Around the same time, Michigan State Police representatives informed the Wayne County Prosecutor that thousands of rape kits were being held in Detroit police storage for which it was unclear what forensic testing had been preformed. The final count of rape kits being held by the Detroit Police Department rose to approximately 11,000, sparking a public safety crisis that required federal intervention and funding.

After departing the Michigan State Police, but before creating the Forensic Foundations Group, Collins served as a forensic science advisor at RTI International from 2012 to early 2014.

1996 Bombing of the Olympics in Atlanta
Just before being hired by the ATF, Collins was vacationing in Canada when he learned that an explosion rocked the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta on July 27, 1996. One woman was killed when a nail packed within the black-powder bomb struck her in the head. The nail was removed from her body during an autopsy at the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office and sent to the GBI headquarters laboratory for preliminary analysis. That single nail would become the first of thousands that Collins would examine over the next few years.

Shortly after Collins was hired by the ATF, two high-explosive bombs detonated within one hour of each other at Atlanta Northside Family Planning Services in Sandy Springs, Georgia - a northern suburb of Atlanta. The one-hour interval of the second bomb was believed to be for the purpose of killing or injuring law enforcement officers arriving in response to the first bomb. Although the Sandy Springs bombs were constructed using nitroglycerine dynamite, like the Olympic bomb, they were packed with nails presumably to maximize their destructive power. Collins and his colleagues at the ATF laboratory scoured through hundreds of bomb nails and thousands of exemplar nails to determine if manufacturing marks on the nails could be used to identify their source and time of manufacture. With the chaos and international attention surrounding the bombings, which investigators suspected were caused by the same perpetrator, additional bombings took place at a nightclub in Atlanta as well as at a medical clinic in nearby Birmingham, Alabama, which killed an off-duty police officer who noticed a suspicious object just outside the clinic. These new bombs were also packed with nails. Investigators eventually identified their prime suspect, Eric Rudolph, in Murphy, North Carolina. A toolshed owned by Rudolph contained nails with identical patterns of manufacturing marks as those observed in the bomb nails.

During Collins' work in the Atlanta serial bombings, he developed two analytical methods for preparing and statistically categorizing nails used in explosive devices. His work, titled The Forensic Significance of Common Nails, was published in the Fall 1998 issue of The AFTE Journal, which is published quarterly by The Association of Firearm & Toolmark Examiners. In recognition for his work, Collins was awarded with a special commendation by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. His work has since been studied and applied in other international terrorism events.

Coincidentally, in 1999, Collins was unexpectedly able to apply his methods in the investigation of a student at Downers Grove North High School who planted a homemade bomb in the school. Collins examined the nails and determined that patterns of manufacturing marks on the bomb nails were identical to those in the student's home. The investigation was reported by the Chicago Tribune.

Gun Violence Prevention
On January 11, 2013, Collins participated in an exclusive meeting of experts held at the White House complex in Washington, D.C. with Attorney General Eric Holder to discuss firearm safety technology as a means to reduce gun violence. The meeting was one of several ordered by the President of the United States in response to the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newton, Connecticut. During the meeting, Collins juxtaposed his extensive scientific casework experience in the investigation of violent crimes with his personal experience as a father of a son afflicted with autism. Collins expressed his concern that the confluence of mental impairment with firearm access was a clear and present danger to the public.

In 2008, Collins' work was cited by the National Academy of Sciences for the National Research Council's Committee on Law and Justice and its evaluation of the feasibility of ballistic imaging databases.

Major Public Policy Events
On Tuesday February 3, 2009, John M. Collins Jr. spoke as a panelist at the 4th annual H.F. Guggenheim Symposium which was held at John Jay College in New York City. The subject of discussion was The Future of Forensic Science, and was attended by between 100-150 journalists from around the United States.

On May 21, 2013, Collins participated in a live, webcast expert panel discussion about crime laboratory backlogs in the United States, which was held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The event was titled "Crime Laboratory Backlogs: The Impact on Justice" and was hosted by RTI International.

On September 19, 2013, Collins moderated an expert panel discussion titled “Investigating Sexual Violence – Emerging Solutions and Best Practices. The forum ran from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Rayburn House Office near the U.S. Capitol. According to Collins, "we are learning how taking a more scientific and collaborative approach—and communicating more effectively across scientific, judicial and academic domains—improves how quickly and reliably these offenders can be brought to justice.”

The Forensic Foundations Group
In 2013, one year after voluntarily stepping down as the Director of Forensic Science for the Michigan State Police, Collins founded The Forensic Foundations Group LLC, a professional consulting and instruction firm dedicated to building occupational competence in forensic science laboratories and criminal justice agencies that rely on scientific evidence in the investigation and adjudication of crimes. Collins also works closely with private businesses who develop methods and technologies for use in the forensic science and criminal justice domains. Collins remains a highly sought speaker, writer, and teacher. Over the years, he has spoken to thousands of scientists, investigators, and attorneys about contemporary issues in forensic science and criminal justice.

Education and Credentials
Collins holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Forensic Science from Michigan State University (1992). In 2006, he earned a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix. In 2009, Collins earned the highest certification available for HR professionals as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) through the Human Resources Certification Institute. In 2015, his HR certification was transferred to the new certification program administered by the Society for Human Resource Management as a Senior Certified Professional in Human Resources (SHRM-SCP). Collins has testified as an expert witness in over 100 criminal trials, including two Daubert hearings in the states of Washington and Ohio.

Awards and Recognitions
In 1998, Collins was awarded a Commendation for Excellence by the U.S. Department of Treasury for his work in supporting the investigation of the bombing of 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the related serial bombings that took place afterward. In 1999, he was awarded Distinguished Member status by the Association of Firearm & Toolmark Examiners. In 2002, AFTE recognized Collins' published work with its prestigious Steve Molnar - Key Person of the Year Award, awarded to AFTE members for excellence in scientific publication.

In 2013, Collins received one of the most prestigious awards in all of forensic science by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, which awarded Collins the Briggs White Award - awarded to recipients who “demonstrated the highest level of creativity, integrity, and dedication to duty resulting in significant advances in crime laboratory management.”