Elisabeth Wallich

INVESTIGATOR

Elisabeth Wallich has been a Certified Fire Investigator since 2004. In November 2017, she retired from the Milwaukee Police Department after 25 years of service. She has been investigating fires in Milwaukee since 1998. In 2001, she was promoted to the rank of Detective and assigned to the Arson Squad. As an Arson Detective, Elisabeth investigated between 150-200 fires per year. She has been the lead investigator on multiple Homicide/Arson cases with suspects that were successfully prosecuted. She was a lead investigator for the 2010 fire involving the Pizza Man restaurant and coordinated multi-agency scenes on a regular basis. Elizabeth has extensive experience with interviewing victims and witnesses, as well as interrogating suspects. Since 2013, she has testified in both State and Federal on cases involving Arson and Insurance Fraud cases. Elisabeth has testified as an Expert Witness in the Area of Origin and Cause in State Court on eight occasions. In 2004 and 2009 she assisted with the recreation and development of a joint fire investigation unit between the Milwaukee Police Department and the Milwaukee Fire Department.

Elisabeth has been a member of the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI) Wisconsin Chapter since 1998 and the International Chapter since 1999. In 2002, she received a Certificate of Appreciation from International Chapter of IAAI for her work during the International Conference. Then in 2003, she was appointed to the position of Seminar Chair of IAAI- WI Chapter. In 2005, Elisabeth received Presidential Appreciation Award from WI-IAAI for her work on the seminar committee. Elisabeth stepped as seminar chairperson in 2007 and received Life Time Membership Award.

Teaching is another one of Elisabeth’s passions. In 2008 she started teaching fire investigation at MATC during their Detective training seminar. In 2015 she was given the opportunity to teach Basic Fire Investigation within MATC’s Fire Science Associates Degree program. Elisabeth has developed her own training curriculum for a Burn Pattern recognition class with a live burn component. Currently, she teaches in MATC’s Police Science Associates Degree and Recruit Programs. In the Spring of 2018, Elisabeth will be graduating with a Master’s Degree in Adult Education.