Joseph Alan Foster

Joseph Alan Foster, 66, of Albuquerque, NM, passed away peacefully at home on March 19th, 2026. He was born on January 2nd, 1960, in Columbus, Ohio to Joseph and Darlene Foster.

He moved to Albuquerque, NM with his family when he was very young, and remained there for the rest of his life. He graduated from Manzano High School in 1978 and decided to dedicate most of his career to the Albuquerque Police Department. From 1984 to 1992 he was a Field Officer. Many of those years he was also a Field Training Officer for officers graduating from the Police Academy. From 1992 to 1994 he became a Detective in the Field Investigator Unit, gaining experience as a Field Investigator, and one year as an on call Secondary Investigator for the Major Crime Scene Team. In 1994 he was promoted to a Major Crime Scene Investigator. There, he spent the remainder of his 27 years of service in the Albuquerque Police Department before retiring in 2011. Afterwards, he worked at the Lovelace Westside Hospital as their Security Supervisor for 13 years and retired in 2023.

Joe was a member of the Association for Crime Scene Reconstruction (ACSR) from 1998 to 2011. He was elected to the Board of Directors from 2001-2003, President Elect from 2003-2005, and President from 2005-2006. He was also a member of the International Association for Identification (IDI) from 1995-2011, as well as the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (IABPA) from 1997-2011. From 1995-2016 he was a New Mexico Department of Public Safety Certified Instructor.

Joe enjoyed being a lecturer and instructor throughout his career at conferences and events through the APD, the University of New Mexico, or other associations. He gave lectures on topics like Shooting Scene Reconstruction, Forensics, Crime Scene Photography, Evidence Collection and Preservation, Death Investigation, and Field Training to name a few. He also enjoyed opportunities to consult on TV shows like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, ABC’s 20/20, Henry Lee’s Crime Story, and the History Channel Crime Story.

During his last three years of service with the Albuquerque Police Department, he was a competitive shooter on the APD Pistol Team. He loved participating in many shooting competitions and won many individual and team awards. He greatly enjoyed the study of firearms throughout his career.

Joe loved his career in the Albuquerque Police Department. He enjoyed all the opportunities his job provided for him to learn and study from professionals and scientists and loved passing that knowledge on through teaching. He was one of two Detectives at the time to be granted access to all sections of the Crime Lab to allow him to study and grow as a Detective. He also had access to operating theatres and the OMI office where he often participated in autopsies. He was excited to be part of one of the first places in the country that started to use painting with light and laser light photography to document the flight of bullets through crime scenes. He thrived in all opportunities to gain additional training to apply to his work whenever he could, such as attending the FBI Academy at Quantico for 3 weeks. He enjoyed applying science to criminal case work and loved the satisfaction of finding justice for victims. He felt lucky to be able to have a career that he truly loved.

On the side, Joe also was the owner of Foster’s Forensics LLC from 2002-2015, where he ran a fingerprinting business, consultation on crime scene investigations, and taught concealed carry classes.

Outside of work, Joe had several hobbies. One of his greatest passions was hunting and fishing with friends and relatives. He loved annual salmon snagging trips and fishing, and going on hunts for ducks and geese, deer, antelope, turkeys, bears, oryx, etc. Joe also loved photography. He entered many photographs to the New Mexico State Fair and received several awards. In addition, Joe spent many years participating in Boy Scouts, mentoring many young men as they worked their way to becoming eagle scouts. Joe was part of The Order of the Arrow, the Boy Scout Honor Society. Over his 15 years as a Scout Master, he took young men on many scouting adventures, scout camps, and Mormon Battalion marches.

Joe is survived by his wife Tracy Foster, their three daughters, Klysta (Jacob), Jennifer (Ryan), and Victoria (Nicholas), and 6 grandchildren.