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.”