Reuniting Families Separated by War

During the civil war in El Salvador in the 1980s, thousands of children were separated from their parents. Many were forcibly taken from their families by the military, while others were lost in the chaos of combat.

International Forensic Program

IFP Advisory Council

David Coffman, BS

David Coffman received his BS degree in Chemistry from the University of Houston and has worked in the field of forensic science since 1984. He was a forensic serologist and crime scene responder with the City of Houston Police Department Crime Laboratory for approximately two years before relocating to Florida in 1987 to begin his career with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He has been with the FDLE for over 19 years, first as a crime laboratory analyst in the forensic serology section, then establishing and supervising the state-wide DNA Investigative Support Database. Mr. Coffman is currently a Crime Laboratory Analyst Supervisor for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in Tallahassee. In 2004 he was appointed, by the FBI Laboratory Director to serve as Chairman of the FBI's Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) as well as serve on the National DNA Index System Procedures Board (NDIS).

His past activities include serving as a member of the National DNA Advisory Board, the Laboratory Funding Working Group for the Janet Reno Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence and a member of Attorney General Ashcroft's Laboratory Funding Working Group. He has provided testimony in over 150 criminal cases across four states. He was also asked to provide testimony to the United States House of Representatives Criminal Justice Committee's Subcommittee on Crime. FDLE's DNA Investigative Support Database has been featured on several television programs including the Discovery Channel, 48 Hours, Court TV, Cold Case Files and a BBC documentary.

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