Reflections Magazine Issue #81 - Fall 2014 | Page 16

Feature Article Results Driven Forensic Scientist Amy Harlukowicz-Proctor Is a Key Part of Michigan State Police’s Crime-Fighting Unit T o say that Amy Harlukowicz-Proctor ’93 is in a results-driven profession would be an understatement. She has dedicated most of her professional career to forensic science. The supervisor/manager for the Biology Unit of the Michigan State Police’s Lansing lab helps law enforcement process crime scene evidence that is often the difference in deciding guilt or innocence. It’s a responsibility she embraces— and doesn’t take lightly. “We literally hold people’s lives in our hands,” said Proctor, who has worked as a civilian member of the MSP since 2001. “There is a lot of pressure to produce the highest quality of work possible with a very fast turn-around time. With that said, the sense of satisfaction that comes from completing a case and testifying to the results in court can be great.” Proctor has testified in court 52 times during her 19-year forensic science career. After completing her Master of Science degree in criminal justice with a forensic science concentration from Michigan State University, she started as a serologist/DNA analyst with the Hamilton (Ohio) County Coroner’s Office near Cincinnati in 1995. For many years she processed blood and DNA evidence as a bench analyst on cases ranging from criminal sexual assault, homicides, aggravated felonious assaults, kidnappings, robberies and arson. “Pretty much any type of evidence that could possibly contain someone’s biological material has been submitted to the laboratory,” Proctor said. And that included finding DNA off a submarine sandwich. “A suspect took a bite out of the sandwich before he decided to rob the restaurant,” Proctor said, recalling the case. “I was adamant that I could not get a DNA profile off a sandwich that someone had bitten. My supervisor advised me to try, and to my surprise, I got a beautiful DNA profile off that bitten area.”