James M. Adcock

I served twenty years in the U.S. Army primarily as a Special Agent Criminal Investigator conducting criminal investigations in Viet Nam, Panama, Maryland, California, South Carolina and in Germany. I progressed from a basic investigator to Special Agent in Charge and Operations Officer supervising as many as 20 investigators. In 1976 I completed a one-year Fellowship in Forensic Medicine at the US Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and besides attending numerous investigative seminars I also attended Scotland Yard’s Advanced Detective Course at Hendon in London.

Soon after retirement I began working as the Chief Deputy Coroner for Investigations in Richland County, Columbia, SC, while I returned to school to work on my doctorate at the University of South Carolina. During this time I was certified in both Georgia and Florida to conduct training for Law Enforcement and coroners in their respective police academies and lectured extensively in other states.

In 1997, prior to graduating, I accepted a tenure track position (received my Ph.D in 2001 and tenure in 2004) at the University of New Haven in their Criminal Justice and Forensic Science programs. I became the director of the Investigative Services Program that went from 75 students in 1999 to over 425 in 2007. I designed an advanced investigative techniques course (undergrad) and a death investigation course (grad). I also taught the Advanced Investigation Courses for the Forensic Science Grad program.

In the spring of 2004 I was a visiting professor at the Yale Law School. This was part of a joint venture between Yale and the University of New Haven to help design the mission statement and a case processing protocol for the newly created Connecticut Innocence Commission.

August 2008 I accepted a position at Coppin State University, Baltimore, MD to teach and design forensic related programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels within the department of criminal justice. By the end of the academic year I had successfully designed 5 courses in forensic investigations at the undergrad level and 7 at the grad level, both of which were awarded certificates by the State of Maryland Educational system.

Outside academia I am a fellow with the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science located at the University of New Haven where I designed a Cold Case Workshop and lectured for the institute on death investigation and managing the investigative process. For two years I supervised forensic science graduate students as they evaluated cold cases from police departments around the country. I presently lecture on cold case concepts and have a book in print with CRC Press on Cold Case Evaluations and investigative strategies. I have been, and continue to be a very active fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) serving on the Board of Directors from 2006-2008 and as a Vice-President for the term 2008-2009. I am also a member of the AAFS Ethics Committee.