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Meet the Experts: Penny Dechant


Penny Dechant has been employed as a Criminalist with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, assigned to the Latent Print Unit, since 2004. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Northern Arizona University in 1995. Penny worked as a Crime Scene Specialist for the Scottsdale Police Department from 2000 to 2004. Penny is a member of the International Association for Identification, Southwestern Association of Forensic Scientists, and is a Certified Latent Print Examiner. Penny is the Technical Lead for the Latent Print Unit at AZDPS and serves as the 1st President for the Arizona Identification Council. Penny has taught courses on latent print processing, latent print workflow and reducing erroneous exclusions.