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.
Sure, email me at Lisa-Black@live.com
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Well, you could simply say you're going to be an anthropologist, which is true--I believe you'd have to be an anthropologist first and then specialize in forensic work. They might be disapproving because they believe it will be difficult to get a job--which is probably also true. When I was at the coroner's office our anthropologist was a college professor who would drive two hours to come and consult whenever we had skeletal remains. Very few agencies are large enough to have a full-time anthropologist on staff. So you might want to have some sort of back-up plan.
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I got a little queasy at my very first autopsy, but since then, no.
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First of all, no teacher should ever tell you you're 'not smart enough' for a field.
Second, not all forensic work involves a great deal of biology--really only DNA analysis and serology do. Toxicology will require a good chemistry background. But specialized fields such as latent prints, crime scene investigator, questioned documents, digital evidence, ballistics and impression evidence would use little to no biology.
If a formal degree becomes a problem, you might want to see if you can start out in an Evidence/Property area and work up from there.
Best of luck!
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MBA Student
Is business school a party compared to law or med school?
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Border Patrol Agent
Do you ever feel sorry for the illegals you catch trying to cross the border?
Titles and job requirements aren't uniform, so the only way to know is to call the crime labs in your area or wherever you might be interested in working and ask them. At the coroner's office we had to have at least a bachelor's in a natural science (this was before they had forensic science majors). At the police department where I am now, they only require a high school diploma but you get more points in the interviewing process for having a four year degree, so we all have one. You can also go on the websites for professional organizations such as the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and check out their job vacancy postings and see what the various positions require. Good luck.
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It can be very stressful at times when unexpected overtime or court interferes with life plans, and at times when we are exhausted/hungry/have five detectives all wanting different things at once. But I just focus on the job what needs to be done right now and looking forward to a shower and bed. No, the job is about what I expected.
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Any kind of lab work, lab courses or internships in laboratories or with the criminal justice system.
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