Education
M.S.W. Clinical, Children and Families, Southern Connecticut State University
M.S. Forensic Science, Advanced Investigation, University of New Haven
B.S. Law Enforcement Administration, University of New Haven
A.S. Law Enforcement Administration, University of New Haven
About Lisa
Lisa M. Dadio is a retired police Lieutenant with the New Haven Police Department in Connecticut. She spent approximately 16 years in the detective division, as a detective, Sergeant and then Lieutenant, commanding the Major Crimes Unit. She spent approximately four years in the crime scene unit as a detective, processing over two hundred crime scenes ranging from vandalism to homicides.
The most high-profile case she investigated was the murder of Annie Le, a Yale graduate student who disappeared just days before she was to be married. Working closely with other law enforcement professionals, including those with the FBI and the Connecticut State Police, Prof. Dadio and her fellow investigators were quickly able to solve the case, and the suspect was later convicted and sentenced to 44 years in prison. Prof. Dadio was recognized by the Connecticut State Police and personally thanked by the special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Haven field office for her work on the case.
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Since retiring from the New Haven Police Department in 2012, she has worked in higher education, teaching courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
In July 2020, she was named director of the University of New Haven’s Center for Advanced Policing.
In 2022, she helped the University secure a $1 million grant from the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) supporting a de-escalation training program that will be offered for police departments across the Northeast. The University is one of only six regional de-escalation training centers across the country that provides law enforcement training that is approved by the Department of Justice.
With a central focus on criminal investigations and crime scene investigations, she has coordinated several regional detective trainings with the New Haven Police Department. She has developed relationships with nationally recognized leaders throughout the country that she often confers with to design agency-specific training opportunities for all police ranks, ranging from cadets through command staff.
In addition to her connections throughout the law enforcement community, she has built relationships with community partners centering on mental health, domestic violence, juvenile challenges, sexual assaults, bias crimes, and child abuse. During her 20 years in law enforcement, she has trained thousands of officers in the state of Connecticut in crime scene investigations, domestic violence, sexual abuse, child abuse and bias and hate crimes.
She regularly appears in local, regional, and national media, sharing her expertise on law enforcement matters and crime scene investigations. A three-time graduate of the University of New Haven, Prof. Dadio started in the police academy the day after graduating from the University of New Haven with her master’s degree in forensic science. She went on to earn her master’s in social work from Southern Connecticut State University.