Pennica Named New Director Of CCBI

8/10/2005

Salvatore “Sam” Pennica, Chief of Detectives for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office Detective Division, has been named director of the City-County Bureau of Identification (CCBI). Wake County Manager David Cooke, Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen, and Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby announced the appointment today.

Pennica will replace Lee Roberts, who retired as CCBI Director on August 1, 2005.

Pennica, 52, will begin work with Wake County on August 22.  As CCBI director, he will lead an agency of 63 full-time personnel responsible for providing crime scene forensic investigation services and technical identification services to all law enforcement agencies in Wake County.

Pennica joined the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office in 2000 after he retired from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). His Cumberland County experience includes command of multiple investigative units, including arson, major crimes, narcotics, property crimes, juvenile offender, child abuse, crime scene and homicide, and management of technical units responsible for fingerprint identification, ballistic identification, financial crimes investigation, photo imaging and polygraphy. During his tenure with the Sheriff’s Office, Pennica implemented investigative report-writing standards and an annual case file/evidence review, improving the Sheriff’s Office’s crime clearance and providing additional support of the District Attorney’s prosecutorial efforts.

“We had an excellent field of candidates for CCBI director, so selecting the new director meant difficult choices,” Willoughby said. “Sam’s broad experience in crime scene, crime lab and technical services, and his demonstrated management abilities and leadership skills were decisive factors.

“Because of his history of working with Wake County law enforcement officials during his SBI career, Sam isn’t coming to CCBI as a stranger.”

Pennica began his law enforcement career in 1971 as an FBI fingerprint examiner. He joined North Carolina’s SBI in 1973 as a special agent assigned to the SBI’s crime lab. Until his retirement in 1999, Pennica’s SBI assignments included crime scene investigation, criminal and drug investigation, direction of the SBI’s training academy and assignment to the security details of governors Jim Hunt and Jim Martin.

He has successfully completed the Administrative Officers Management Program at North Carolina State University and has completed more than 4,000 hours of formal law enforcement coursework through federal and state programs.

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