Exec. Dir., Lead Instructor, CPES
Joseph T. Latta is a retired police Lieutenant who served with the City of Burbank Police Department, California for thirty years. Joseph has an Associates Degree in Business Management, a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration, and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. He is a graduate of the California Command College were he conducted a two year research project related to “Management of Property and Evidence Operations.” In 1986, Joseph Latta graduated from the prestigious F.B.I. National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.
During his law enforcement career, Joseph worked in the Uniform Patrol, in the Investigations and in the Support Services components of his agency. From 1981 to 1998 Lieutenant Latta was the project manager who oversaw the construction of a $30 million new Police and Fire Headquarters. During those same years he also served as the Support Services Lieutenant overseeing his agency’s property room.
Mr. Latta is the primary instructor for the International Association for Property and Evidence, Inc. (IAPE) and conducts classes throughout the United States and Canada. Additionally, he previously was on the faculty of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (I.A.C.P.) instructing on property and evidence operations. Joseph has been associated with the following organizations, i.e. teaching property and evidence management courses: U.S. Secret Service; the U.S. Department of State; New York City Police Department; San Jose State University; Sam Houston State University; Connecticut State Crime Laboratory; New Mexico State Crime Laboratory; California Police Officer Standards and Training (POST); Florida Department of Law Enforcement; Colorado State Patrol; Idaho State Police Academy; New Mexico Municipal League; California Chiefs of Police Association; Montana State Crime Laboratory; Virginia Department of Forensic Science; ROYAL Canadian Mounted Police: North Carolina Actual Innocence Project. During the past 30 years Joseph has instructed more than 15,000 students in the principles of property and evidence management. In November 2014 Mr. Latta achieved a milestone in teaching, when he conducted a class in Maine round out all 50 states and six Provinces in Canada.
In 1997 Mr. Latta was appointed as the Executive Director of IAPE where he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the association and the servicing of the more than 4,500 members. In 2010, Joseph Latta was asked to become a charter member of the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Technical Working Group (TWG) on the Preservation of Biological Evidence. Mr. Latta is one of the co-authors of the NIST/National Institute of Justice (NIJ) “Handbook for the Preservation of Biological Evidence” that was published in April, 2013.
Mr. Latta is also the President of Evidence Control Systems, Inc. (www.evidencecontrolsystems.com) a company that provides property room auditing and consulting services to law enforcement agencies, police facility architects, storage companies, etc. and has written three books on Property and Evidence Management.
