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.
Any science major is a good thing. The requirements for each agency or lab vary, so if you have a particular location in which you wish to work, you might call all your potential employers and ask what the job requirements are. Then you can decide whether a science degree, a forensic science degree, a masters or a PhD would be best. Also check salaries and decide whether they are sufficient, and be prepared for a lot of competition.
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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!
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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.
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If it were allowed to dry and kept dry, then it's possible, though the odds would be incredibly slim since the decomposition fluids from the body would most like overwhelm it. It's worth a try.
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Certified Nurse Aide
What's it like going into a room in the morning to find someone dead?
Nurse Practitioner
As gender roles continue to evolve, are you seeing a rise in the % of male nurses?
Wills and Estates Lawyer
Can I leave everything to my pets?
I don’t see why not. But I wasn’t aware hair could be tested for alcohol, I thought it was only drugs and heavy metals.
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I'm sorry, but I have no idea. I don't work in digital forensics.
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That would depend entirely on what the mess up was and what it affected, and whether it was an honest mistake or the result of negligence or bias. For a serious mistake, yes, I'd probably be fired.
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