LIsa Black
Cape Coral, FL
Female, 49
I spent the five happiest years of my life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I'm a certified latent print examiner and CSI for a police department in Florida. I also write a series of forensic suspense novels, turning the day job into fiction. My books have been translated into six languages.
In general and barring other explanations, if the area around a hole caused by a bullet is gray that is caused by fouling, or vaporized lead from the bullet exiting the gun within approximately 6 inches of the hole. That would indicate that the hole is an entrance. Is the gray on the inside or the outside of the hat? I can't explain why there would not be blood on the hat (again, are we talking the inside or the outside?) unless it was literally blown off the head before the blood began to spill, but that is unlikely in the case of an exit I would think.
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You can't go wrong with science classes. When I was in college they didn't have courses specifically in forensic science, so that wasn't an option. Look especially for classes where you can do hands-on work in the lab or field. And different agencies will have different requirements, so you might want to go online and check out the different vacancies to get some idea of what requirements are out there.
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I don't know too much about indented writing but I would suggest using alternative light sources like IR or UV.
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We use math in calculating point of orgin of bloodstain patterns. The sin of the angle of impact equals the width over the length of the blood stain. When we have a group of bloodstains on a surface like a wall or floor we can use this to calculate the point of origin. Also the fingerprint database searching uses complicated algorithms to rank fingerprint matches in terms of similarity. Forensic chemists probably use math more than I do--for example, to calculate the amount of alcohol in a person's blood. I hope that helps!
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How do you prevent cheating and plagiarism these days?
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I'm sorry but I have no idea. You'd have to ask a pathologist about wound appearance. Sorry I can't be more help.
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Officers who talk their sergeants into calling us out to a scene for five minutes of processing because they don't want to use the fingeprrint kits that they've been issued for just that purpose.
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