Serial Wildland Arson
Investigations Training 2023

Sean Smith Sacramento County Sheriffs

Sean Smith recently retired after over 28 years with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. Since 2006 he had been assigned as a Detective to the Sacramento Valley Hi Tech Crimes Task Force, investigating such cybercrimes as online child enticement, child pornography, online fraud, business email compromises, online threats, identity theft, and dark web narcotics vendors/cryptocurrency seizures. In addition to his investigative responsibilities, he also conducted digital evidence examinations on mobile devices, computers, digital storage devices and internet websites.

Email: ssd.ssmith@gmail.com

Phone: (916) 813-1751

Investigator Theo Bailey Alberta, Canada Provincial Wildfire Investigator

Case Study: Female Wildland Serial Arsonist

Class: Inv. Bailey will present a detailed analysis of a rare offender, the female wildland serial arsonist. In this case study he will describe case analysis and pattern analysis techniques, along with canvassing operations that led to the identification of a potential suspect in a series of wildland arsons. Then through the use of videos Inv. Bailey will show the detailed car stop through the interview process that eventually led to a successful resolution of all the fires in the series.

Bio: Theo is the Senior Provincial Wildfire investigator leading the Wildfire Investigation program for the Forestry, Parks, and Tourism Ministry of the Government of Alberta, Canada. He and his team work jointly with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Forestry Crimes Unit to investigate arson caused wildfires. He is a lead instructor for the FI-210 and FI-310 courses, an IAAI Certified Evidence Collection Technician (IAAI-ECT), and is a member of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, Wildland Fire Investigations Subcommittee.

Email: Theo.bailey@gov.ab.ca

Phone: (780) 427-8085

Special Agent Scott Fischer Bureau of Land Management

Synopsis: Leveraging Open-Source Remote Sensing for Wildland Fire Investigations. This is a very unique class about accessing exotic information to help in the early detection of wildfires. This class will cover open-source satellite imagery, NASA heat data, Lightning Data, and Fire (Lookout) Cameras. I will use several cases studies to demonstrate how to use each data source.

Special Agent Dino Balos ATF

S/A Dino Balos (ATF) is a 25-year veteran Federal law enforcement officer. He has successfully investigated hundreds of cases involving firearms, explosives, and arson violations, many of which were supported by reliable confessions as evidence. He is a certified ATF instructor and has testified concerning confessions or admissions made to him by defendants as part of the prosecution's case-in-chief. He has been assigned to the ATF Tampa Field Division for 10 years. His past assignments include 8 years in the ATF Boston Field Division’s Arson & Explosives Group, as well as 3 years with the U.S. Bomb Data Center at ATF-Headquarters in Washington DC. Prior to ATF, S/A Balos spent 4 years as a special agent for the Federal Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigating fraud, waste, and abuse in programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) within the New York Field Office.

Email: Konstantinos.Balos@atf.gov

Phone: 941-861-4257

John J. Bourke

John is currently employed as a Supervising Criminalist with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Crime Laboratory where I oversee the Chemistry, Trace Evidence, and Crime Scene Teams. He graduated from Sacramento State University in 1997 with a degree in Forensic Science and began working at the Laboratory in October of the same year. He has performed casework in Seized Drugs, Latent Print Processing, Impression Evidence, Questioned Documents, Audio and Video Forensics, Bloodstain Pattern Analysis, and Crime Scene Response. He is currently authorized to perform casework in Seized Drugs, Impression Evidence, Bloodstain Pattern Analysis and Crime Scene Response. He is currently a Certified Senior Crime Scene Analyst (IAI), a Certified Footwear Examiner (IAI), a Diplomate in General Criminalistics (ABC), and a POST Level III instructor. I have had the honor of providing training to everyone from cadets at the Academy to District Attorneys on Laboratory resources, services, and crime scene response. I currently provide training as part of the POST Officer Involved Shooting course and the Core Course.

Email: jbourke@lab.sccgov.org

Ed Nordskog Los Angeles Sheriffs

Ed is a retired arson/bomb investigator and profiler (34 years) from the Los Angeles Sheriffs. He and Joe Konefal are co-authors of the book Arson Investigation in the Wildlands. Ed has conducted in excess of 2,100 arson investigations and has testified as an expert on arson related issues on 104 occasions. He continues to work as a consultant to prosecutors, Cold Case analyst, and courtroom expert on many high profile arson and bomb cases.

Ed’s topic is the practical use of Link Analysis in serial crimes including arson. Done poorly or by untrained persons, link analysis is a mere carnival game. However, with training, education and a science-based analysis of the events at a crime scene, Link Analysis is a powerful tool used by both the investigator and the analyst/profiler, and has been accepted in courtrooms in multiple countries.