Forensic Scientist

Do you have to have special skills to do this? Do you have to have a certain level of fitness?

Asked by Tori almost 3 years ago

You will most likely need at least an associates degree in forensics or a natural science. How agile you need to be depends on what you're doing--if you're working in a lab, consistently on level ground, a disability would not be an issue. If you're doing crime scene work and you need to sometimes climb on top of roofs or into attics, out in fields, etc., then you need to be mobile. But nothing like police officers or rescue personnel.

Hope that helps!

In a situation where fingerprints are planted on the weapon, and the person who committed the assault/murder is holding the weapon with gloves. How do the prints not become smudged or rubbed off?

Asked by Emily over 2 years ago

I would think they’d have to get rubbed off. I don’t know how one could hold a knife tightly enough to stab someone without smudging all the prints on the grip. Guns, despite what you see on television, are terrible surfaces for prints, though I guess if you were very careful and maybe propped the butt on something, I suppose you could use it without grasping and smudging some areas, like the grip (if it were smooth, otherwise it likely wouldn’t retain any prints anyway) or a shiny, chromed barrel. A knife, maybe if it was big enough that you could grip only part of the handle and leave the prints on the other part undisturbed. Or maybe part of the blade if you didn’t stick it in the body all the way. But I would think it would be tough to do.

Hope that helps!

This is a hard question. What if in a job interview for law enforcement you are asked. What is a order you would not follow?!

How would you approach that?

Asked by Dave almost 3 years ago

I”m a civilian employee so I’m not in the strict line of command as perhaps a police officer is, so I don’t really think in terms of ‘orders.’ If there’s a request of us that we feel could be detrimental to the forensic evidence, we’ll tell them that and discuss alternatives. If that wouldn’t work, I’d get my supervisor involved. If the detectives insist, then I’d probably do what they want (provided of course it wasn’t illegal) and if it makes the case unprosecutable, then that’s on them. So far the issue has never come up.

Hi, I am an Indie author and I have written a nook that involves a murder. The murder is set around 1946. My question is would detectives of that time be able to match the blood on clothing worn by a suspect to that of the victim's?

Asked by Ritu over 2 years ago

Not positively…as far as I know they could tell the blood type and gender, but of course not the positive ID of DNA. I don’t know when they started doing serological testing such as secreter status and PGM sub typing. Hope that helps!

Tragically I have lost a family member to an accidental drug overdose can someone explain the below toxicology and what they think has ultimately caused death.
0.04mg/L of Cocaine

0.022 mg/L of 8-Aminoclonazolam (which is a metabolite of clonazolam)

0.017 mg/L of Alpha-hydroxyetizolam (which is a metabolite of etizolam)

Asked by PARENT over 2 years ago

How was your experience becoming a forensic scientist, how long did you study and where, after graduating was it hard to get a job, what's the monthly pay like and do you think it's a good career to get into, money and employment opportunity wise?

Asked by Temperance Brennan 5 days ago

Hi Lisa! I'm an author doing research for a new novel, hoping for help 1. If a body is wrapped in plastic and hidden in a wall, what would it look like when found 40 years later? 2. If he died from an overdose of sedatives, could you tell after 40 y?

Asked by Frida over 2 years ago