Dr. Leggie L. Boone

Dr. Leggie [Leh ‘jee] Boone is a Forensic Analyst, Author, and Educator. Dr. Boone’s main fields of interest are vicarious traumatization, organizational support and civilian relations, implicit bias in crime scene attendance, personal impact of law enforcement suicide, and active dreaming. Her research has explored how trauma exposure, tenure, and education influence performance effectiveness and perceived organizational support for crime scene investigators. She has also examined contributors to law enforcement suicide and the policies accessible for awareness and intervention. Dr. Boone has been involved in forensic sciences since 1993 in various positions, including autopsy technician volunteer, crime scene investigator, educator, and evidence analyst. Her undergraduate degree in Biology was the foundation for her earlier employment.  As a civilian investigator, she developed self-reliance in coping with the tragedies of criminal violations daily.  Sometimes, Dr. Boone’s methods of decompression included writing songs and crime scene poetry, singing, and journaling graphically detailed dreams. Dr. Boone has worked as an educator in Baltimore County, Maryland schools and colleges, teaching sciences including Biology, Environmental Science, Paramedical Biology, and Forensic Science. While teaching, Dr. Boone completed her master’s degree in Forensic Science and Investigation through National University. On both sides of her teaching years, Dr. Boone processed thousands of crime scenes. Her crime scene and teaching experiences allowed Dr. Boone to collaborate on the publishing of the forensic textbook and virtual component, So You Want to Be a CSI, with two other former CSIs. Dr. Boone also co-authored and published Fox Tails: Short, Short Stories Written While Puppysitting and she has multiple poems and song lyrics published in magazines and books, including The Dead and the Bizarre- Book 2. The international project, the Manual of Crime Scene Investigation, includes two chapters which Dr. Boone authored. In Someday, My Prints Will Come, one of her publications, she has produced a learning tool and activity book focused on the study of fingerprints. And, her most recent project, Dear Dream Maker, has been published in English and Spanish, as the first volume of a series, journaling years of detailed dreams. Dr. Boone has taught as an adjunct professor with Keiser University in Florida, in the Crime Scene Technology program, teaching several courses including Field Investigative Procedures, Biological Evidence, Forensic Imaging, and Legal Aspects of Forensic Careers. Additionally, she teaches in the Forensic Psychology graduate programs with Walden University. She has been an invited speaker in many international conferences, including the Global Science Guild, Worldwide Association of Women Forensic Experts, and the Caribbean Association of Forensic Sciences, and she is a Senior Adjunct Faculty member for the Sherlock Institute of Forensic Sciences, India.

Dr. Boone has also been active in her community through her Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and NAACP memberships, and affiliation with multiple civic organizations.  In 2020, Dr. Boone attained her Ph.D. and Master of Philosophy in Public Policy and Administration, in Criminal Justice through Walden University, with the goal of improving policies and curricula in collegiate forensic sciences and law enforcement agency crime scene investigation training.  Through it all, she still dreams vividly, in the midst of producing volumes for interpretation, enlightenment or entertainment. Dr. Boone is inspired by the constant support of her mother and daughter, both named Leggie, and she is driven by her faith to be an author, a leader, and an agent of social change.