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 think you could ask that about any job. It all depends on the person doing it; if it's only a way to get a paycheck, then it's just a job. If it's all they want to do, it's a career. If it occupies a lot of their personal time, it's a lifestyle. But forensic science can be demanding and most of all, unpredictable, so most people wouldn't do it just as a 'job.'Hope that helps!
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Nothing's really 'dumb' since every case involves, a minimum, property loss or inconvenience. Criminals can be dumb...the best example I can think of was when a bunch of boys broke the glass in a door to get into a jewelry store, couldn't find much to take, then were hightailing it out of there as the alarm rang and one was trying to climb back out the broken window and not having much luck when his buddy barreled through the other door simply by pushing the push bar on it. The video was hilarious.
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Job requirements depend on the job. Requirements might range from a HS diploma to a PhD. Check the websites of forensic professional organizations (IAI, AAFS, pathology or other disciplines) for job vacancies. I like the variability of the days.I dislike the hours, which can be unpredictable, and require being ‘on call.’
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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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Help Desk Technician
Are people appreciative when you help them or do they just treat you like a support monkey?
Radio program/music director
Just how good of a radio host do you think Howard Stern is?
Subway Store Manager
Is Subway viewed as a healthy fast food option in Australia?
That entirely depends on the requirements of the hiring agency. Since they’d probably require advanced schooling so hirees would wind up being older. It also might have to do with liability if the person would need to drive agency vehicles, etc.
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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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That’s an excellent question, that unfortunately I can’t answer. We have the OBTI test that can confirm blood is human, but beyond that…I don’t know if there are alleles that both animals and humans share that might show up in the average DNA analysis. Even if animals have some alleles that are the same as humans, if those aren’t the alleles looked for in a DNA test, then it wouldn’t affect things. But if they are, then I don’t know if scientists have a way to distinguish them. Sorry I can’t be more help!
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