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.
Just as a guess, it seems to me that molecular biology and sociology are pretty far apart, career-wise. With molecular biology I would expect you to go into DNA or some other kind of specialized analysis--which would be fabulous, but I doubt that you would also be doing crime scenes. My question is, would you like to work mostly in a lab or mostly at crime scenes? If mostly in a lab, then I think you are on the right track. The best way to know is to contact places you would like to work and ask them what their requirements are. Go for a tour if you can. This is also a great way to network and meet people. But most importantly, every agency will have different preferences based on their functions and positions. Best of luck!!
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We have worksheets or notebooks that we use to make notes at the scene, and we have worksheets that we sometimes use in the lab if we want to. Then the 'official' report, which is usually fairly simple, is typed into our computer system so that everyone in the department can view results or print it out for the attorneys. It will outline everything we did and any results obtained.
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I couldn't tell you the exact chemistry, but it reacts with the iron present in hemoglobin to indicate blood. However it also reacts with other oxidizing agents such as copper and horseradish. Unlike what you see on TV, we don't spray luminol and then use a UV light or some such thing. We make the room as dark as possible, spending a lot of time taping material over windows and door cracks and 'ready' lights, then spray the luminol.or Bluestar. It will glow on its own without any additional equipment, and won't last long. It can be photographed but that's a bit of work. It won't stain or harm anything.
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it is always helpful to know what will give a false positive result. Hemastix will also react with a few other substances, such as vomit for one. That's why it's called a prelimary test and not a confirmatory test. Good job!
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Oh yes, I'm extremely smart. Just kidding! No, you don't have to be some kind of friggin' genius like you see on TV. You just have to be reasonably intelligent, reasonably sensible, reasonably observant, and have a good amount of attention to detail, respect for rules, and patience. It also helps to be pleasant and able to get along with people. Even though most of our victims are dead, the families, witnesses, cops and detectives are very much alive and under a lot of stress.
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Whatever points conclusively to the identity of the perpetrator. That could be a fingerprint or DNA or some personal item they used or their picture on a surveillance video.
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I've had two jobs in forensics and didn't have connections to get either. I didn't get a number of jobs because they were already planning to hire someone's brother-in-law, but I eventually got a position. The procedure is whatever the agency requires and they will all be different, so you need to check out the websites of any agency you would like to apply to. They will usually have a clearly defined process for application.
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