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.
How much chemistry you need depends on what type of work you do. As long as you're not actually working in toxicology or DNA, you shouldn't need to be a great chemist as long as you can reliably work with chemicals and combine them properly (like following a recipe). And as long as you are a reliable and honest employee then the job is secure, once you get it, but I will be honest--there's a lot of competition in this field right now so getting into a position might be difficult. You should definitely have a back-up plan.
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I spend about 90% of my time sitting in front of a computer looking at fingerprints. The rest of the time I go to crime scenes to photograph and process for fingerprints and collect items of evidence. 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'm not sure what you mean by 'off the job training.'
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See above. I have a bachelor's degree in biology, plus over a thousand hours of continuing education in forensic topics (accumulated over 20 years).
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Call all the crime labs in your area and ask what their requirements are. You can also check websites such as those for the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and International Association for Identification which will post vacancies and job descriptions.
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Where I live we have many burglaries. There really isn't a busiest time of year, though things sometimes pick up when the kids are out of school. When I worked at the coroner's office I also swore there were more homicides in September and December.
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I loved mystery shows and books when I was a kid. I always wanted to be a detective, but didn't want to be a cop. And I always liked science.
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