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.
Yes, yes and yes. Our Evidence department’s job is to keep track of everything, how long it’s been around, and then get the responsible party (usually the collecting officer or a prosecutor) to sign off on it’s ‘disposition’, which can be returning it to an owner, destroying, or sale or donation. For example, if you find something (like money) and turn it in, if it’s not claimed after a certain amount of time, you can have it. Stuff that no one wants is destroyed. They had a company that used to sell stuff but I don’t think they’re using it any more. (I think it was called PropertyRoom.com) Things like bicycles can be donated to charitable organizations to give to underprivileged citizens. Drugs are destroyed (which has to be witnessed by at least three people from three different departments—I have to be one sometimes when my boss is busy and we have to escort the Evidence van to the waste management facility and stand there and watch the stuff go into the incinerator...not fun in the summer months!).
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A pathologist is a doctor, so you'd have to go to med school first, and they usually have standard placement systems. To be a forensic scientist, it's best to get an internship position with your local lab while you're in school or just graduated. Or at least contact all the labs you're interested in, ask for a tour, meet people. You can also attend forensic conventions, though you'll have to pay for the registration. Hope that helps!
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I don’t know any more about it than you do.
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Usually they’ll tell me the basics, what seems to have happened—there’s a body in the bedroom, this car hit that car, the homeowners came home to a broken front window and are missing jewelry from one bedroom but nothing else. Usually it’s everything they know, in general, but mostly what’s relevant to me. I don’t need to know the whereabouts and timeline for every suspect, but I need to know when the victim was seen last, when the neighbor heard shots, that the gun was removed from the scene for security (which we frown on, but if it’s necessary then it’s necessary), that the one bedroom door is closed because there’s a large dog in there so don’t open it. If there’s anything else I want to know I’ll ask, but usually then they leave me alone to do my thing. Hope that helps!
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Bouncer
How often would you find yourself in real danger?
Former IRS Revenue Officer
Did you ever deal with people who tried the 'Wesley Snipes' defense?
Firefighter
What's the worst you've been burned in a fire?
Yes, about 60 times over 25 years. But not nearly as often as you'd think.
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I don't know of any particular mathematics requirements. You'd need enough basic math skills to balance chemical equations, calculate reagents in formulas, and record accurate measurements. Ballistics or accident investigation might need more advanced skills, but I would not know about that. Good luck!
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The most important qualities to have would be patience, persistence, attention to detail and objectivity.
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