Graham Thompson

Professional Background

Graham has extensive experience and knowledge in the discipline of Forensic and Crime Scene Investigation. He was a serving Police Officer with Cleveland Police and retired in March 2005 after 30 years' service.  During his career he was a Uniformed Officer, Plain Clothes Officer, Detective Constable and a Senior Crime/Fire Scene Investigator for a total of 18 years, responsible for the Forensic Investigation at Major Crime scenes, where he attended, investigated and reported on a varied range of volume crime scenes, arson scenes, murder scenes and fatal fire scenes as a Scientific Support Officer and Joint Arson Task Force Manager.

In 2000, he was seconded to Cleveland Fire and Rescue as the Arson Task Force Manager for Cleveland Police where he was responsible for Forensic/Fire awareness training to personnel upon demand, the investigation of deliberate fires, collection of forensic evidence, to establish the origin and cause of the fire and compose statements/reports for the legal system.

Graham has attended courses, conferences and seminars in the United Kingdom, North and South America and the Middle East, not only as a delegate, but as a speaker on Fire and Forensic related issues on numerous occasions.

He was the first UK police officer to be invited to attend by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) to an Advanced Origin and Cause (Arson)/Courtroom techniques course held at the Federal Law Enforcement training centre in Georgia, USA in January 2003.  He was also the first person from the UK to attend the Advanced Explosives and Recovery Techniques course held by the AFT in Fort A P Hill, Virginia USA in August 2004.

He has for a number of years been invited to teach MSc/BSc degree students at the University of Teesside, Leeds Metropolitan University, London Metropolitan University and De Montfort University in Fire and Forensic related issues.

He is an Associate Member of a worldwide disaster management company that is responsible for the recovery and repatriation of human remains and effects following natural and man-made disasters.

He was until August 2013 a Forensic Technical Advisor with the Abu Dhabi Police in the United Arab Emirates with the responsibility in designing, implementing and delivering specialist training for Police Officers/Crime Scene Investigators in the area of Forensic, Fire, Post Blast and Disaster Victim Identification issues.

Graham now runs a successful training consultancy company called The Forensic Academy which delivers Forensic and Disaster Management training to Police/Fire and government agencies as well as universities, colleges and schools throughout the world.

CSFS Background

Graham is a Professional Member of the Society and an assessor for the Accreditation and CPD/CPC schemes.  He was previously the Diploma Manager for the Diploma in Crime Scene Investigation.

return to assessors tab.