Instructors

D. Eric Johnson, CEP
Eric Johnson retired as a First Lieutenant from the Michigan State Police in January 2009 after more than 30 years of service. He served as a trooper, first-line supervisor, section commander, and post commander at various locations throughout the state. While serving as an assistant to the Field Bureau Commander for the state police, Eric worked to develop photography training standards, tested cameras and accessories to identify what best served law enforcement applications, and wrote policies regarding digital image integrity standards.

During his law enforcement career, Eric also owned and operated portrait studios at two locations in Michigan. In fact, he has been doing professional photography, including forensic photography, for more than 28 years. He was active with the Mid-Michigan Professional Photographers Association, the Professional Photographers of Michigan, and Professional Photographers of America (PPA). He has won numerous awards for his portrait work, including several Best of Shows and two Top 10 in the State awards. He’s also had prints accepted into PPA’s Loan Collection, a collection of competition images judged to be the best of the best.

Following his retirement, his background in law enforcement and professional photography motivated him to submit photography training courses for the police to the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES). Eric currently provides such instruction at the state police academy in Lansing, as well as throughout Michigan’s Lower and Upper Peninsula. He offers courses designed for the first responder, as well as evidence technicians and accident investigators, and has provided photography instruction to more than 761 law enforcement officers and first responders from 181 agencies throughout the state.

Currently, Eric owns and operates Forensic Photography Services, LLC. In addition to his instruction, he also provides specialized injury photography to plaintiff law firms throughout Michigan. Eric is a Certified Evidence Photographer and a member of the International Association for Identification (IAI), Professional Photographers of America (PPA), and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).

David Witzke (“Ski”)
David Witzke (better known as “Ski”) is Vice President of Program Management for FORAY Technologies. With nearly 20 years of experience, he is considered to be one of the foremost experts in forensic digital image processing and AFIS technologies. His extensive background covers all facets of software development, systems installation and integration, technical support and training. Because of his established reputation in forensic digital image processing, Ski has been asked frequently to speak at hundreds of regional and international conferences. Ski was also a guest instructor of Digital Imaging of Evidentiary Photography at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, for more than seven years, and was the instructor for the Forensic Digital Image Processing program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in Vancouver for more than six years. Ski is also a contributing writer for two well-known books: “Crime Scene Photography” (First Edition, Published 2007 by Academic Press) and “Footwear, The Missed Evidence” (Second Edition, Published 2007 by Staggs Publishing). (“Crime Scene Photography” was chosen by the IAI Crime Scene Certification Board as required reading for anyone wishing to test for certification in 2008-2010.) Ski is also the chairperson of the Digital Imaging Subcommittee of the Chesapeake Bay Division of the International Association for Identification.