Lauren Sautkulis

 
Secretary

lauren.sautkulis@sdsheriff.org

San Diego, CA (USA)

Lauren began her career as a criminalist with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Regional Crime Laboratory in 2002.  She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego in 1999.   Lauren began her forensics career in the laboratory's Forensic Alcohol Section.  In 2004, Lauren transferred to the Forensic Biology Section and performed identification of bodily fluids and DNA analysis.  The transfer to Forensic Biology provided an opportunity for Lauren to join the Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) team in 2007, as a supplemental assignment.  As a member of the CSI team, Lauren performed numerous duties in the field including the identification, collection, and preservation of evidence, preparation of scene diagrams, latent blood detection, bloodstain pattern analysis, and crime scene reconstruction, while still performing Forensic Biology casework.  In 2013, she was promoted to CSI Technical Lead and oversaw the CSI team including performing technical reviews of casework, creating policies and procedures, and training new team members while continuing to perform general CSI duties and Forensic Biology casework.  Lauren was promoted to Supervising Criminalist in June of 2022 and still participates in the CSI program.
 
Lauren has been a member of the IABPA since 2010 and was Vice President of Region 1 (Pacific) from 2020-2022.  Lauren holds a position as the Regional Director South for the California Association of Criminalists (CAC) and is a member of the Bloodstain Pattern Analysis Subcommittee for the Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC).   Additionally, she is a member of the Association for Crime Scene Reconstruction and the International Association for Identification.