Dr David De Tata – Expertise You Can Trust

Dr David De Tata is a retired forensic scientist with over 20 years of experience in forensic casework, specialising in chemical criminalistics. His expertise spans across arson investigations, explosives, paint, glass, illicit drugs, clandestine laboratories, and chemical weapons, contributing significantly to the Western Australia forensic response. David has played a pivotal role in several national counter-terrorism investigations as an explosives subject matter expert and has been routinely called upon as an expert witness in criminal and civil proceedings.

Over the last 20 years, David has initiated and delivered numerous training programs in various areas of forensic science, including explosives recognition and analysis, homemade explosives, crime scene evidence collection, analytical instrumentation, and clandestine drug chemistry. His training efforts have benefited local and national law enforcement and defence agencies. As a member of an international team at INTERPOL's Chemical and Explosive Terrorism Unit, David has developed and delivered training courses related to CBRNE materials.

David continues to supervise multiple PhD projects focused on chemical criminalistics, including explosives and other forms of forensic evidence. To date, he has published over a dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals and contributed to several forensic textbooks and online encyclopedias.