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.
Usually we can assume what kind of cells will be on it depending on where it was collected from—if from a pop can, it will probably have saliva and skin cells. From underwear might have semen. If from a dark stain, probably blood. How long it takes depends on the type of analyses done and the type of DNA testing—STR, ySTR, mitochondrial, etc. It will take at least a day or two, and after that it depends on the lab’s backlog. We send our DNA to a state lab and it will take between a month and four months to get the results back. If detectives or prosecutors want it faster and someone’s budget is willing to pay for it, we can send it to a private, accredited lab and pay for a faster analysis. They can do it in as quickly as three days or up to a week or two depending on what you want to pay for. If you want it in a week it will cost a few thousand dollars—something like $600 a sample plus upcharges for expedited service and an overall charge, if I’m remembering correctly. If you want more like three days it will be more like $5000. That’s for the basic three samples—victim, suspect and questioned sample.
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I’m not sure what you mean—when I decided to go into forensic science (in which case it would be “that sounds really cool, like I could solve mysteries without being a cop”) or more like my very first day on the job (which would be “I hope I don’t screw up “).
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Sure, email me at: lisa-black@live.com
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Yes. Unless they have a crime lab more incredibly equipped than any I've ever visited.
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I would expect it to be like any other interview--they will ask about your education and experience. If there is any practical experience you have, such as lab analyses, fingerprinting, what programs you used, they may ask specific questions about that such as which software did you use, did you use a mass spec or an electron microscope, etc. If there's things you haven't done, you might say you're aware of the theory of, say, bullet trajectory analysis but haven't had any hands-on experience. That's perfectly okay, no one is an expert in everything. Best of luck!
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Titles and job requirements aren't uniform, so the only way to know is to call the crime labs in your area or wherever you might be interested in working and ask them. At the coroner's office we had to have at least a bachelor's in a natural science (this was before they had forensic science majors). At the police department where I am now, they only require a high school diploma but you get more points in the interviewing process for having a four year degree, so we all have one. You can also go on the websites for professional organizations such as the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and check out their job vacancy postings and see what the various positions require. Good luck.
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Sorry, I'm having a hard time picturing how what you're describing would be possible.
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