Duncan McCarthy is the Acting Superintendent, Operations Commander of Forensic Services Group, Queensland Police Service (QPS). His substantive role is the Forensic Manager for QPS South East Region FSG, responsible for the crime scene and laboratory capabilities and accreditation in support of frontline policing.
He began his policing career with the New South Wales Police Force in 1995, moving to QPS Forensic Services Group in 2004, after roles in general duties policing and regional duties with NSWPF FSG. Duncan achieved his certification in Fingerprint Expertise in 2003, and in 2005 performed Disaster Victim Identification duties in Thailand to identify victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami.
Since 2010 Duncan has been a partner investigator with the University of QLD school of Psychology across two Australian Research Council Linkage Projects, involving numerous national partner agencies. Duncan was conferred the position of Adjunct Fellow of the University of QLD in 2019.
Duncan led the development of a Graduate Certificate qualification program with Griffith University and assisted with the review of ANZPAA NIFS Australasian Forensic Science Assessment Body (AFSAB) processes. Duncan was appointed as a member of the AFSAB Board between 2018 – 2020 and has authored and co authored peer reviewed publications.