After years of planning and development, the Certified Property and Evidence Specialist certification program was initiated with an announcement and application in the last issue of The Evidence Log(c). The International Association of Property and Evidence is pleased to announce that the very first person to qualify as a Certified Property and Evidence Specialist is Evidence Supervisor Tania Gay, Vacaville (CA) Police Department. 

Tania started in police work in 1982 when she was hired by Dixon (CA) Police Department as a dispatcher. In 1983 she moved to the Davis Campus of University of California Police Department and dispatched there for a short time. Feeling the need to be even more involved, she accepted a position with Vacaville Police Department in 1984 as, of all things, a truant officer. After that Tania worked as a Crime Prevention Officer, and she finally found her home when a position came open in the evidence office in 1986. That's when the fun really started. 

It was in this position that she gained experience managing/controlling an evidence office. For the next ten years Tania worked assorted crime scenes as an evidence technician, handling everything from suicides to homicides, At the same time, she remained the Department's property officer, keeping track of the evidence that officers booked daily.

Although this double-duty assignment is a common practice in many smaller departments, she took advantage of the opportunity to become an expert fingerprint examiner and become proficient in processing evidence in a lab environment, all in addition to her responsibilities handling the Department's property and evidence function.

Needing even more excitement, Tania "changed direction" again in 1995 when she went back into the Dispatch Center. Two years there didn't satisfy her need to "do more," so in 1998 she became a civilian Fraud and Forgery Investigator for the Department's Investigative Services Unit. It was during this assignment that Tania became a Certified Computerized Voice Stress Analysis (CVSA) Examiner.

In 2001 the Department created a new civilian supervisor position for the Evidence Office. Tania's breadth of experience combined with her focused experience in property room duties uniquely qualified her for that position. And that's where she is today. Tania says she supervises "a small group of quality people," and she believes that is where she'll stay until the end of her law enforcement career.

Working for Vacaville Police Department for nearly twenty years has afforded Tania some unique, pace-setting opportunities. She was the first truant officer for the Department. She developed the first computerized database for the evidence office in 1990. She has earned recognition as Civilian Employee of the Year two separate times: the 1st in 1986, and the 2nd in 2000.

Tania has two grown children, Angel and Tim, who have given her three beautiful granddaughters, with still another on the way! She lives in Vacaville and when she's not working or spending time with her grandchildren she enjoys traveling, dinning out, sporting events and sewing.

Congratulations, Tania!