Joseph Blozis
Detective Sergeant Joseph Blozis was employed by the New York Police Department (NYPD) from 1979 to 2008. For 13 years as a senior sergeant in the Crime Scene Unit and designated as Supervisor of Detective Squad, he responded to scenes of serious crimes and incidents within the confines of New York City. His duties included the supervision of the search, collection, preservation, and documentation of all types of physical and trace evidence. He performed crime scene reconstructions and conferred with the numerous District Attorneys throughout New York City. Detective Sergeant Blozis conducted forensic investigations of major crime scenes, including those in which law enforcement officers were killed and/or injured, and managed in excess of 2,500 crime scenes, including more than 1,000 homicide investigations.
In 1993 and 2001 he oversaw both crime scene investigations involving the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001, he was on scene as both towers collapsed and was immediately assigned to what is known as “Ground Zero” until its completion in May 2002. For a three-month period following the events of September 11, 2001, he was Acting Commanding Officer of the Crime Scene Unit. For five years, prior to his assignment to the Crime Scene Unit, he supervised the criminalistics, narcotics, questioned documents, serology, and polygraph units for NYPD's Police Crime Laboratory. In 2005, he was reassigned to the Police Crime Laboratory as coordinator of the Biotracks DNA Program. Prior to assuming those positions, Detective Sergeant Blozis worked as a patrol sergeant, squad detective, and both as a patrol and plainclothes police officer.
As coordinator for the NYPD’s Biotracks DNA program, Detective Sergeant Blozis utilized his crime scene expertise to train field personnel in the recognition, detection, documentation, and recovery of DNA evidence at crime scenes. Through federal and state grants, funds were obtained to apply DNA technology to solve property crimes. The Biotracks program was comprised of teamwork: Crime scene DNA recovery, laboratory DNA analysis, stringent follow-up procedures to ensure that identified offenders are arrested, and aggressive prosecution ensuring offenders will be incarcerated for lengthy prison sentences. To date, in excess of 600 offenders have been identified through the efforts of the Biotracks program.
Detective Sergeant Blozis is certified in New York State for Method of Instruction and has conducted and participated in numerous training sessions and lectures. He lectured at the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Death Investigation Course in Quantico, Virginia; Department of Justice’s International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program, Almaty, Kazakhstan, United States Department of State’s Diplomatic Security’s Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program, Barbados, Association of Chief Police Officers London England, XX All India Forensic Science Conference hosted in Jaipur, India,
2010 International and National Forensic DNA Symposium, Shanghai and Xian City China, and the New York State Prosecutor's Training Institute. He received a state grant to train various New York State law enforcement agencies on DNA and law enforcement procedures. Additionally, Detective Sergeant Blozis has conducted seminars for the Regional Information Sharing Systems Program, the Middle Atlantic-Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network, the Western States Information Network, and the Toronto Police Department. He has lectured law enforcement agencies in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Oregon, Oklahoma, Vermont, Virginia, Washington State, and Washington D.C.
He instructed several NYPD Academy courses, including Advanced Leadership, Homicide Investigators Course, Detective Bureau Orientation, and the Criminal Investigations Course.
Throughout his career, Detective Sergeant Blozis has received several commendations, including 5 Meritorious Police Duty awards, 15 Excellent Police Duty awards, Cop of the Year award 1984, Unit Citation 1996, Chief of Detectives Achievement Award 1996, and Pulaski Association’s Career Achievement Award 2004. He was one of the "Faces of Ground Zero" in Time Life Magazine in 2001, and was featured in the World Trade Center books “Dead Center” and “Never Forget”. In 2007 he was interviewed on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 and Fox News for DNA and property crime investigations. In 2010 he was featured on Testimonial Films Discovery Channel “911 Crime Scene Investigators”. Furthermore, Detective Sergeant Blozis is involved in numerous law enforcement professional organizations, such as the FBI National Academy Associates, the American Academy for Professional Law Enforcement, the Fraternal Order of Police, the International Homicide Investigator's Association, and the International Association of Identification where he is certified as a senior crime scene analyst.
Retired Detective Sergeant Blozis is a graduate of St. John's University achieving a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice and a 1994 graduate of the FBI National Academy, Quantico, Virginia. Moreover, he has been formally educated in the fields of crime scene investigations, criminal investigations, homicide investigations, hazardous materials, and weapons of mass destruction, among others.
Retired Detective Sergeant Blozis is presently a contracted consultant providing services for federal agencies and global DNA companies. He is an instructor, lecturer, and subject matter expert who has developed training curriculum for the United States Department of State’s Antiterrorism Assistance Program to Terror Related Crime Scene Investigations. In June 2009 he presented the Terror Related Crime Scene Investigations Pilot Course to seven Eastern Caribbean countries that is now implemented worldwide. He is also an instructor for the Bode Technology Group’s Crime Scene Collection and Advanced DNA Techniques Workshop that provides domestic and international training for law enforcement and laboratory personnel. Recently, he has been selected as the training coordinator and lead instructor for the International Association of Chiefs of Police Crime Scene Investigations Course.