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.
If you could possibly create different colored filters for your camera with transparent, colored films? That might enhance the writing. That's all I can think of, sorry!
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I like doing both, because being in the lab all the time can get tedious, but being at crime scenes all the time can get exhausting.
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I think those sound like fabulous courses for this field.
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Gunshot is the most common, then bludgeoning, then stabbing.
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Sr. Software Engineer
Are those $12,000 "learn to program" bootcamps a rip-off?
Radio program/music director
What's the secret to actually getting through when you call in for a radio contest?
Forensic Scientist
When did you know you wanted to work with the dead?
First of all, no teacher should ever tell you you're 'not smart enough' for a field.
Second, not all forensic work involves a great deal of biology--really only DNA analysis and serology do. Toxicology will require a good chemistry background. But specialized fields such as latent prints, crime scene investigator, questioned documents, digital evidence, ballistics and impression evidence would use little to no biology.
If a formal degree becomes a problem, you might want to see if you can start out in an Evidence/Property area and work up from there.
Best of luck!
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It can be very stressful at times when unexpected overtime or court interferes with life plans, and at times when we are exhausted/hungry/have five detectives all wanting different things at once. But I just focus on the job what needs to be done right now and looking forward to a shower and bed. No, the job is about what I expected.
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Our office gets journals from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the International Association for Identification, as well as smaller publications like newsletters for the Florida Division of the IAI and the one for the association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts.
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