:: Curriculum Vitae - Chris Anderson

I am a Forensic Document Examiner conducting a private practice from 2nd Floor, 835 Pennant Hills Road, Carlingford, New South Wales. My previous employment with the Australian Federal Police and the Department of Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs was in a similar capacity.

History

From November 1976 to October 1984 I was employed by the Australian Federal Police in the Document Examination Bureau. During my training I not only had the guidance of the Officer in Charge but I also had the benefit of the experience of the former Chief Document Examiner for the Government of Sri Lanka, who worked in this field for over 30 years. I have also worked with a former Examiner of Questioned Documents for the United States Department of Defence.

Between 1976 and 1978 I completed a two-year academic programme on document examination, which included the preparation of two research papers on the subject. During this time I acquired a relevant background in chemistry by undertaking a chemistry course conducted at the Meadowbank Technical and Further Education Centre. I also attended instructional programmes on typewriters at IBM Sydney and Wangaratta, Victoria as well as a light microscopy and photomicrography course held at Macquarie University.

On the 16th July 2004 I qualified for the degree of Bachelor of Science from Macquarie University were my core area of study was statistics. I graduated on the 27th September 2004.

During 1983 I was the Officer-in-Charge of the Document Examination Bureau over a period of 6 months.

From October 1984 to January 1989 I was employed by the Department of Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs as an Examiner of Questioned Documents and as Officer in Charge of the Regional Operations of the Document Fraud Section, Sydney.

During this period my duties had a greater emphasis towards examination of and reporting on security documents, travel documents and other supporting documents presented to the Department.

Simultaneously, I conducted a private practice as a Forensic Document Examiner until my resignation from the Department of Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs.

In 1986 I attended the Paper Knowledge Workshop conducted at Wesley Vale, Tasmania by the Australian Pulp and Paper Mills, whilst working for the Department of Immigration Local Government and Ethnic Affairs. In 1990 I attended a Typewriter Examination Seminar conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the Victorian State Forensic Laboratory, Macleod. During the same year I was a participant in a workshop on "Presenting Better Expert Testimony" conducted by a Law Professor from the Nova University, Fort Lauderdale, USA. The workshop was held in Adelaide. As an invited guest of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners I attended their 1994 annual meeting held in Long Beach California. Part of this programme was a workshop on "Forged and Counterfeit Documents".

I am engaged to examine all manner of documents in most fields of document examination accepting instructions from solicitors, government agencies and corporations.

In September 1994 I was one of two examiners selected to provide document examination services to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

I have examined in excess of 70,000 documents in over 2000 cases encompassing all facets of document examination. In many of these matters I have been required to present expert testimony in both civil and criminal courts of various jurisdictions.

Experience

In the course of my 27 years in the field of forensic document examination, I have been continually instructed in and practised all areas of the subject including:

the identification of handwriting, typewriting, printers and printed matter;
ddistinguishing forgery from genuineness;
analysing inks, papers and other substances that are combined into documents;
the detection of additions and substitutions on a document;
the restoration or decipherment of erased and obliterated writing.

I have studied numerous textbooks and articles on the subject and I am progressively upgrading my reference library with new texts and articles to ensure that my knowledge of developments in this field is current.

The courts in which I have testified regarding questioned documents include:

the Supreme Courts of New South Wales, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, in criminal matters;
the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Queensland, in civil matters;
the Federal Court of Australia, Perth, in a civil matter;
the Special Federal Court of Australia, Sydney, in criminal matters;
the District or Country Courts of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, in criminal matters;
the Local and Magistrates Courts in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory in criminal matters;
the Local Court in New South Wales, in civil matters;
the High Court of Singapore.

In addition to these areas I have presented evidence before the Stewart Royal Commission, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the Fitzgerald Commission of Inquiry.

Since 1979 I have lectured regularly on document examination. Initially, the lectures were to detective courses conducted by the Australian Federal Police where I covered various topics including:

"The Capabilities and Services of the Document Examiner"
"The Scope of the Services of the Document Examiner"
"Legal Aspects of Evidence as Presented by an Expert"
"The Do's and Don't of Handling Evidential Documents"
"Obtaining Suitable Standards or Specimen Material of Comparison Purposes"

On joining the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, I had the responsibility of both organising and conducting a more intensive programme of lectures on document fraud to officers of the Department, also officers in Customs, Department of Foreign Affairs and the Australian Federal Police. The aim of these lectures was to alert the officers in the detection of non bona fide documents.

Presently I conduct lectures to the legal profession, government agencies and universities. In February 1991 I presented a lecture on document examination to law students undertaking a course subject titled "Scientific Evidence" at the Nova University, Fort Lauderdale, USA.

Associations

In 1984 I was accepted as a full member of the Australasian Society of Forensic Document Examiners Society after passing the examination conducted by the Executive of the Society. I was on the committee of the Executive of the Society from 1993 to 2000.

Papers

I have prepared the following papers:

"Utilisation of Several Photographic Techniques to Illustrate Numerous Alterations to an Australian Passport"
"Has the Copy Improved with Age?"
"Looking Towards Certification"

The first paper was presented to the Australian Police Scientific and Techniques Conference in 1979 and subsequently to the First Scientific Meeting of the Australian Society of Forensic Document Examiners in 1981. The second paper was presented to the Third Scientific meeting of the Australian Society of Forensic Document Examiners in 1983. Both papers were published in the Australian Federal Police Officers' Association Journal in 1983. The third paper was presented at the 1991 Scientific Meeting of the Australian Society of Forensic Document Examiners.

An article I wrote on forensic document examination and presented to a Fraud Prevention Conference in 1992 was published in the July 1994 issue of the NSW Law Society Journal under the title of "Counterfeit, Forged and Altered Documents". It has also been published in two parts in the New Zealand Northern Law News under the title of "Expert Evidence: The Trials of a Document Examiner" during September 1994.