JEFFERSON CITY — Captain Joseph Veasman, of Columbia, will be the new director of the Crime Laboratory Division on June 1, according to a May 13 news release from the Missouri State Highway Patrol Department of Public Safety. He will be transferring from the Professional Standards Division (PSD).

Veasman, who is from the Vienna and Dixon areas, believes that this moment is a “full circle moment,” since he started in his career in the crime laboratory.

“Now this is an opportunity for me to kind of go back to my roots with the agency,” he said.

After graduating from Vienna High School in 1998, Veasman in 2002 earned his bachelor’s degree biology and a minor in chemistry at Mizzou. In 2024, he received his master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Columbia College, which he believes helped prepare him to return to the crime laboratory.

After graduating Mizzou, Veasman worked at the crime laboratory as a criminalist in the DNA Casework Section for three years.

Veasman decided in 2005 to become a trooper in the Highway Patrol, and after graduating the academy, he was assigned to Troop F, Zone 9 in Montgomery County. In 2010, he was transferred to the Gaming Division in Boonville and was promoted to corporal in 2012. During that time, he was a background investigator.

He then transferred in 2016 to the Troop F, Zone 14 SWAT Team as a vehicle enforcement trooper, and he was promoted to sergeant in February 2019. He then became an investigator as a lieutenant in the PSD in 2021, and on Feb. 1, 2026, he was promoted to captain.

Being from rural Missouri, he believes that he grew up with “small-town values” that contributed to his professional success. He learned how to live with integrity, making sure his actions were consistent with his words.

“In law enforcement, it’s important that your integrity stands out, that you do the right things, that you do what you say you’re going to do,” he said.