Dwight Van Horn

Dwight Van Horn retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department in May 1999 after completing a law enforcement career that spanned over 28 years. Dwight’s first law enforcement job was with the Trenton (New Jersey) Police Department working for nearly seven years in Patrol, Vice and Special Investigation assignments.

Dwight relocated to Southern California, taking a job with the Hermosa Beach Police Department, where he worked for nearly two years in patrol with collateral duties as a Field Training Officer and Rangemaster.

In 1981 Dwight went to work for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, where he worked assignments in Custody, Patrol and as a Firearms Instructor. In 1985 Dwight was selected to work in the Firearms Identification Section of the Sheriff’s Crime Lab. During his 14 year tour at the lab, Dwight worked several hundred firearm homicides, which included nearly 200 officer-involved shootings and training several people to be Firearms Examiners Dwight was an instructor for California Department of Justice’s Robert G. Presley Institute of Criminal Investigation and has taught many law enforcement agencies on Officer Involved Shootings, Firearms Crime Scene Investigation and other Forensic Firearms Issues.

After retirement Dwight took contract Firearms Examiner jobs with the Idaho State Police, 3.5 years, Washington State Patrol, 1.5 years and BAE Systems where he was deployed to Tikrit and Baghdad Iraq for 17 months assisting US Forces in forensic firearms issues. Dwight continues to work as an independent Firearms Examiner and has testified as a firearms expert on nearly 450 occasions in Municipal, Superior and Federal courts in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Wyoming.