Ask a Forensic Scientist anything

989 Questions

Last Answer on July 21, 2022

Hi! I was wondering something about timing. Say a kidnapping takes place in a hotel room. How long is the room cordoned off? At what point is the evidence collected and taken away? When can the room be let again? (Working on a novel!)

Asked by Nico about 6 years ago

We’ll hold the scene as long as we need to get everything done, and that could be a day or two or three, but for a kidnapping it probably wouldn’t be more than a day, just enough to collect all the victim’s stuff, and collect fingerprints, hairs, fibers, anything that might belong to the kidnapper. We eventually get tired and want to go home (though we can go and come back, so long as it hasn’t been ‘released’) and the police department don’t really want to hold it longer then absolutely necessary, because they have a cop or two sitting there doing nothing but guarding the scene, and it takes them off the road. Hope that helps!

573 Votes

Have you ever made a arrest?

Asked by Shelby about 6 years ago

I'm a civilian employee, not a sworn officer, so no.

573 Votes

So you wanna be a Forensic Scientist?

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What do you like about your career

Asked by Ana almost 7 years ago

For school projects, please email me all the questions at once at: lisa-black@live.com

573 Votes

How anonymous are people really on the dark, deep, and even on the regular internet? What about websites where people talk about bad things they have, doing, or going to do without signing up or anything?

Asked by Dan almost 6 years ago

I'm sorry, but I have no idea. I don't work in digital forensics.

573 Votes

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I have not used cocaine in a year, why is my hair still testing positive for cocaine?

Asked by Terence J Donnelly over 6 years ago

Hair is just dead cells, so once something is there, it stays there. Hair grows at about 1/2 inch per month, in general (mine, to my frustration, grows much more slowly). So if your hair is longer than say 6 inches, the cocaine will still be there. If your hair is much shorter, then I don’t know what’s happening.Hope that helps.

572 Votes

Hi, so how do you get used to blood and gore?

Asked by Crazy almost 6 years ago

You just do. Somehow you can either tolerate it or you can't, or you learn to cope with it. There are cops who can work homicide for thirty years and still have a weak stomach. They just don't let it keep them from doing their jobs.

572 Votes