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.
Each agency will have their own requirements. The best way to know what to expect is to call all the crime labs in the area and ask what their requirements for various positions are. You can also check websites for forensic organizations such as www.theiai.org and www.aafs.org and examine their job postings. Best of luck!
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Your nuclear DNA is the same in the skin cells holding your hair in place, your saliva, your blood, your skin, your bone marrow etc. Your friend's DNA is of course different from yours, but the same in their saliva, their blood etc. The criminals probably threw someone else's hair around the crime scene so it wouldn't match them.
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There are usually levels of the job, like Tech I, Tech II etc. depending on years of experience that will come with an increase in salary. After that one can progress to supervisory role. But there aren't a lot of steps, really. For instance I have nowhere to go from my current position, and I don't care. I like what I'm doing and have zero interest in being the supervisor.
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How much chemistry you need depends on what type of work you do. As long as you're not actually working in toxicology or DNA, you shouldn't need to be a great chemist as long as you can reliably work with chemicals and combine them properly (like following a recipe). And as long as you are a reliable and honest employee then the job is secure, once you get it, but I will be honest--there's a lot of competition in this field right now so getting into a position might be difficult. You should definitely have a back-up plan.
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Bracketologist
Where do you think the Selection Committee needs the most improvement?
Farmer
Do friends with office jobs look down on what you do?
Waitress
Are you instructed to "push" certain menu items that are at risk of going bad?
I don't know that as a fact, but I would think so. Simply washing with soap and water will take care of it.
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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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Because not everyone's fingerprints are in a database. You only have fingerprints taken when you are arrested or apply for a job or some other license for which it is required. Not all of those necessarily end up in a database accessible to the agency that has the unidentified person. And DNA such as hair only helps when you have a profile to compare it to--if the unidentified person is a convicted felon so their DNA might have been entered when they went to prison, or if there are family members available to give a sample (in which case you would have to already have an idea of who the person might be). It's not really like TV. We don't have databases of every single person and every single substance known to man.
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