Richard Meadows joined the Ohio Peace Officer’s Training Academy (OPOTA) – Advanced Training staff in May 2012 as a Law Enforcement Training Officer. Richard was responsible for a majority of the evidence related classes at OPOTA. The topics he was responsible for include crime scene processing, latent fingerprint development and identification, crime scene photography, evidence room management, core criminal investigation and death investigation. In this capacity, he wrote curriculum for his subject areas based on national and accepted standards, negotiated contracts with guest instructors as needed, and taught a majority of the classes in his assigned areas. In September 2017 Richard accepted a position as Deputy Director of OPOTA Richfield where he oversaw the OPOTA Richfield campus. While serving as Deputy Director, Richard supervised the staff at OPOTA Richfield and still taught classes on Evidence Room Management and crime scene processing. He was also the program manager for the Master Evidence Technician Program and Master Criminal Investigator programs. Richard’s time with OPOTA came to end in May 2020 when the Ohio Attorney General’s Office closed OPOTA Richfield campus and restructured the academy eliminating the jobs of the Advanced Training staff.
Richard retired in 2010 as a Detective with the Grove City Ohio Police Department due to an on duty injury. Richard’s career started in law enforcement with the Columbus Police Department as a Police Communications Technician in 1995. He was subsequently hired by the Grove City Police Department in 1996 and attended the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy for basic police training. Richard spent 10 years as a General Investigator. He conducted all types of criminal investigations but specialized in large scale “White Collar” crime investigations as well as crime scene processing and evidence collection. During his time assigned as an Investigator, Richard spent 3 ½ years assigned to the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations where he served as the Assistant Task Force Director for the Multi-Jurisdictional Counterfeit Check Task Force where he led the task force to a Group Law Enforcement Award from the Ohio Attorney General in 2008. After retiring in 2010, Richard accepted as position as a federal government contractor working for Forfeiture Support Associates as a Property Coordinator. Richard was assigned to the Columbus Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. While assigned to ATF Richard worked to assure all of the property in the ATF evidence vaults and explosive bunkers in Ohio and Indiana was accounted for, inventoried, and disposed of properly. Richard also assisted ATF at the scenes of search warrants to assure evidence was packaged properly and accounted for.
Richard completed his A.A.S. in Law Enforcement at Columbus State Community College along with his Master Criminal Investigator and Master Evidence Technician certifications through OPOTA. He also holds a Diploma of Forensic Science from the American Institute of Applied Science.
