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.
Many if not most crime scene and forensic work job are now civilian, which means you don't need to become a police officer and are not trained at the police academy, etc. Some agencies do have their forensic staff become sworn officers, so the only way to know is to ask. I've worked in forensics for over 20 years now and I've never been a police officer.
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School project?Email me at Lisa-black@live.com and I'll send you answers I've accumulated.
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Yes, all the time. That's part of my job. But that will depend on what your job is, some people work only in the lab, and others work only at crime scenes.
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Pros: Advanced technology and political attention (i.e., funding)Cons: Reality--evidence isn't always there, the job can be dirty and hard, budgets are always limited
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That's an excellent question that I wish I had a better answer for. I'm guessing it depends on the interviewer's history and experiences. For instance due to curriculum changes, in my area we actually get much better-trained candidates from the community college and the for-profit local schools than the large, more prestigious university. It depends on what the curriculum entails and how much hands-on work and practice in your specific field (which may be difficult to do in an online course, but if the bricks and mortar schools don't provide it either, then perhaps it makes little difference). If I were you I would detail that as clearly as you can when applying for jobs.
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I'm sorry, I thought I answered this one. We work 40 hours per week, some of us are on four 10s and some on rotating 12 hour shifts. Each of us takes a turn on being 'on call' for overtime calls.
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It's concerning because juries expect more than is reasonable. Not every case is going to have DNA evidence and you don't always find fingerprints on a surface and eyewitness testimony sounds convincing but can be very unreliable. However an expert can hopefully explain all these issues to make the limitations clear, provided the jury listens.
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