Farrell C. Shiver
is a Past-President of the American Society
of Questioned Document Examiners. He previously served as
the Vice President, Treasurer and as a Director of the
organization. For several years he was the Editor of the Journal of the American
Society of Questioned Document Examiners.
The American
Society of Questioned Document Examiners (ASQDE) was formally
organized in
1942 by Albert S. Osborn, who is considered the father of
scientific examination of questioned documents, and fourteen other prominent document
examiners. The roots of the organization extend back to a
less formal network of document examiners started in 1913.
Today the
organization has approximately 140 members from the United States, Canada,
and other countries
around the world. The ASQDE annually hosts an educational
meeting where the latest research in forensic document
examination is presented.
Candidates for
ASQDE Provisional and Corresponding Membership must meet a
number of requirements which include:
-
must be
actively engaged in the practice of forensic document
examination;
-
must possess
an earned baccalaureate degree from an accredited academic
institution;
-
must have two
years of training as a forensic document examiner under a
recognized practicing document examiner;
-
must have two
years of post training experience;
-
must have the
unanimous endorsement of the Membership and Credentials
Committee;
-
must have
submitted at least one acceptable technical paper to an
annual meeting in the previous three years as a guest of the
ASQDE.
In order to be
elected to Regular Membership, a Provisional Member must meet a
number of requirements which include:
-
a minimum of
two years as a Provisional Member
-
passing
written, practical, and oral examinations, or
-
for those
members who has passed examinations comparable in scope and
degree of difficulty (such as the testing for board
certification administered by the
ABFDE), completing an approved
research project in lieu of the testing requirement
In order to
maintain membership, ASQDE Regular Members are required to meet
rigorous requirements, which include:
-
attendance at
annual meetings at least once every three years, and
-
requirements
to contribute to the program of the annual meeting at least
once every three years, which usually involves the
presentation of a paper concerning some aspect of forensic
document examination.
The ASQDE
membership roles, past and present, include the most prominent
forensic document examiners from around the world, including
authors of leading texts in the field.