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.
That all depends on where you work and what your job duties are. I spent about 90% of my time sitting in front of a computer looking at fingerprints. When I was at the coroner's office I probably spent 40% of the time examining victim's clothing, 10% on gunshot residue testing, 30% on hairs and fibers, and 20% everything else.
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I was going to email your teacher but you didn't give me her complete address, just her name. Please go to my website and hit 'contact me' and let me know where to send a response. Thanks and good luck with your project.
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1. Review earlier answers to similar questions.2. Take as many science classes as you can.3. Check out the websites of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the International Association for Identification and any others you can find, and look at their Employment Opportunities section. Job postings will tell you what qualifications are required.4. Call all the crime labs in your area (city, county, state and any other location where you might want to work) and ask what degrees their staff have and what are required. (For instance my agency only requires a HS diploma but we all have at least a B.S.) Every agency will have their own requirements. Best of luck to you!!!!
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Yes. Unless I could make it as an architect. I would really like that too.
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They could try not to leave it in the first place--wear gloves and a hat, and don't cut yourself on the window you broke to gain entry. And wear a mask since you never know who has cameras where in this day and age!
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Yes, that's what we do at our agency, depending on the analysis required. We can process for latent prints and analyze them and also cell phones and computers. For things like DNA analysis and bullet comparison, we send that to the state lab. Every agency is different depending upon available personnel and equipment.
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It could help if it's pulled hair, not cut, and if they were super-careful to leave no fingerprints or any other kind of possible DNA samples so that the police had no choice but to test the hairs for possible suspect DNA. It would also depend on the scene--if it's a heavily traveled bank, for instance, so there is a ton of discarded hairs, the police would hardly test them all. If they leave a tuft of hair on say, a chain-link fence used to get away, where the police couldn't help but notice it, then they'd have a better chance of making it a useful diversion.
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