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.
I don’t believe there would be any summer jobs at a police department or crime lab, and internships are usually given to students who are college juniors or seniors. Though they should check with the police department, there might be volunteer or Explorer programs. Otherwise any job that involves lab work might help—not just hospitals but food or water testing sites.
Best of luck to them!
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We can compare footprints just as finger or palm prints, but there isn’t a database of footprints so you would have to have standards of the suspect’s feet. Otherwise I don’t know what you mean by ‘looked at.’ Everything is looked at, in a sense—there’s ballistics, fibers, bloodstain patterns, arson evidence, toolmarks, video and photo analysis, paint, glass, etc. and etc.
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Yes, unlike what you see on television, evidence doesn’t necessarily ‘prove’ anything. It all depends on circumstances. If the victim’s blood is on the suspect’s shirt and he says he never met her, that’s vital evidence. If he found the body and tried to revive her, then it likely means nothing. Or bloodstains might tell me the victim was stabbed six inches away from the wall, but that doesn’t tell me who stabbed him. But if the perpetrator is caught and describes what happened, the bloodstains might corroborate or disprove his story. I hope that helps.
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I have no idea--are you referring to utility companies marking gas lines, etc? My agency has some flags but we haven't used them recently. I suspect if an agency uses different colored flags it might be some internal coding that they use. Sorry I can't be more help.
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That sounds odd, but were they looking for blood or semen stains in particular, or just the DNA of whoever wore it?
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I’m not sure what you mean. Do you mean how does a forensic scientist advance in their career, or what scientific advancements have been made by forensic scientists?
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I couldn't tell you--I haven't personally done any studies of bystanders at a shooting. GSR analysis is usually testing for primer residue, which can escape from the gun when fired. So someone could have GSR on their hands if they handled a gun, if they touched a surface near to where a gun was fired, if they handled the gun after it was fired, etc. This is why, though they've stated this on television every day for fifty years, having gunshot residue on your hands doesn't prove you fired a gun. Not having gunshot residue on your hands doesn't prove you have not fired a gun. The particles are very tiny and easily dislodged. These are some of the reasons why most agencies don't do gunshot residue analysis any more. Hope that helps!
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