Forensic Scientist

Forensic Scientist

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.

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Last Answer on July 21, 2022

Best Rated

Is there any police and crime shows, movies, books, e.c.t that show what it is really like?

Asked by Daniel about 6 years ago

Huh, that's a good question. I hope my books show what it's really like, except, of course, that my protagonist spends much more time out of the lab than in it, which is not at all realistic.

The non-fiction TV shows and books show reality, however, you have to remember that they're presenting cases that most investigators may come across once or twice in a lifetime.

Fiction shows, like "CSI" in which they have computerized databases of every substance in the world including toothpaste and wall paint, or ones in which female pathologists wear cocktail dresses to work. are definitely not realistic at all.

After a person kills themself with firearm, does their hand maintain the grip or does the gun fall from the hand?

Asked by Vin over 5 years ago

It depends upon their position and the recoil of the gun and mostly on gravity. I've seen a few where the gun is in their hand, not so much because they're gripping it but because the hand falls to their lap or their side or something. But most of the time the gun has fallen to the floor or at least a lower spot.

Hello! How easy is it to collect finger prints, scan them and identify a match (I imagine its very hard) but out of say 100 cases how many could actually be solved using fingerprint analysis?

Asked by Eliza over 5 years ago

Generally about a 6 to 10% identified rate is good. Many prints that are collected at scenes by officers are ‘not of value for comparison ‘ (smudges or only have a few ridges) and many that are good belong to the victim or their friends, family, employees etc.

What does forensic science mean to you?

Asked by Caroline over 5 years ago

For homework interview questions, please email me at lisa-black@live.com.

if a person licks their fingers in order to aid them in counting money, counts the money and hands ti to another individual who places that money in their bra. Can there be saliva dna transfer to the breast?

Asked by angie almost 6 years ago

I suppose that’s theoretically possible, but I wouldn’t think it likely. The saliva would sink into the paper of the money quickly, and then when swabbing the person’s skin you’d have to happen on the exact spot where that tiny bit of saliva transferred to.

I hope that helps!

How stressful can working as a forensics scientist be?

Asked by Denisse Parada about 6 years ago

That all depends on where you work, what the caseload is, and what your job duties are. If you work someplace with a huge backlog and more work than you have personnel for, it could be stressful. When I was at the coroner’s office it was exhausting, we had a ton of work, not much staff, were underpaid, and my boss was a little crazy, but i loved it so much I didn’t care. At the police department now we have just enough people to manage the work, so even though it gets busy at times we stay on a pretty even keel. Good supervisory management is key (in any field). Best of luck!

How long will latent prints last when ninhydrin is used?

Asked by Krissy over 5 years ago

I'm not sure what you mean: a) how long after a print is left will ninhydrin still detect it, in which case I can say from my own experiment that there's little rhyme or reason to this, sometimes older prints develop better than newer ones or vice versa, or b) how long does a print developed with ninhydrin last, and the answer to that is that ninhydrin is a dark purple dye, so it is permanent, though it will continue to develop so that the entire page may eventually turn purple so we use a fixative chemical on the now-visible print so that will stop the ninhydrin from darkening the paper further. I hope that helps!