Barry A. J. Fisher is the Crime Laboratory Director for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, a position he has held since 1987. He began his career in criminalistics with the Sheriff’s crime lab in 1969. His current interests concern the interrelationship between forensic science and the law along with public policy issues concerning the timely delivery of quality forensic support services to the criminal justice system. To that end, he served as a member of the American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section’s Ad Hoc Committee to Ensure the Integrity of the Criminal Process and is currently a member of the American Judicature Society’s Commission of Forensic Science and Public Policy. He represents the American Academy of Forensic Sciences on the Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations, which represents six national forensic science professional organizations and works to influence public policy in forensic science at the national level.

Fisher is a Distinguished Fellow and past-president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences; past-president of the International Association of Forensic Sciences, past-president of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors and a past-chairman of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors – Laboratory Accreditation Board. He is a member of the Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Advisor Council.

His textbook, Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation, in its 7th edition.

Nationally respected investigators Joe Nickell and John Fischer explain the science behind the criminal investigations that have captured the nation's attention. Crime Science is the only comprehensive guide to forensics. Without being overly technical or treating scientific techniques superficially, the authors introduce readers to the work of firearms experts, document examiners, fingerprint technicians, medical examiners, and forensic anthropologists. Each topic is treated in a separate chapter, in a clear and understandable style. Nickell and Fisher describe fingerprint classification and autopsies, explain how fibers link victims to their killers, and examine the science underlying DNA profiling and toxicological analysis. From weapons analysis to handwriting samples to shoe and tire impressions, Crime Science outlines the indispensable tools and techniques that investigators use to make sense of a crime scene. Each chapter closes with a study of a well-known case, revealing how the principles of forensic science work in practice.

Joe Nickell, author of Detecting Forgery, Camera Clues, Unsolved History, Real-Life X-Files, Secrets of the Sideshows, The Kentucky Mint Julep, and Mystery Chronicles, is Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Skeptical Inquiry in Amherst, NY.

John F. Fischer, president of Forensic Research and Supply Corporation, worked for many years as a forensic analyst in a Florida crime laboratory and has lectured at the FBI Academy.