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 4 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!

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 3 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!

"Blood was not detected on Item 57(bullet); however a sample was collected on Item 57 as 57-1 (swab).
For a debate, did the scientist collect blood or "touch DNA"?
What do the letters "cc" mean in lab report?
Thank you very much!

Asked by Judy Prochnow over 3 years ago

Blood is not touch DNA. Touch DNA is DNA left by skin cells or sweat or oil, basically, not a visible stain. So it sounds like this sample 57-1 was either touch DNA or something visible that they thought might be blood but wasn’t.

I don’t know what cc might mean, other than carbon copy (like a copy of the report was sent somewhere else) or cc’s as a unit of measure.

Hope that helps at all!

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 4 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.

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 3 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 11 months 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 3 years ago