Forensic Services
Work for the Crime Lab
What do I need to do to get a job in a crime laboratory?
The answer to this question is to first assess what you actually want to do. Television shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigations have grossly misrepresented the role of crime laboratory personnel. On television, the CSI investigators do it all, from collecting the evidence at the scene, analyzing it at the laboratory and performing follow-up interviews with suspects and finally, making the arrest. This is not an accurate picture of most crime laboratory operations.
All of the above-mentioned investigation duties are typically broken down and given to different individuals in the criminal justice community. For instance, the crime scene technician performs the majority of crime scene processing in the field, criminalists analyze the evidence in the laboratory and police investigators interact with both and perform all interviews and make the arrests. Each one of the individuals is responsible for their own piece of the puzzle. To be more accurate, one should ask the following questions:
What do I need to do to get a job as a crime scene technician?
Various city, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies employ crime scene technicians. By far, the majority are employed by local agencies. In Utah, Salt Lake City Police Department, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office, West Valley Police Department and Weber County Sheriff's Office are the largest employers of crime scene personnel with staffs ranging from 5-10 civilians. Smaller agencies typically hire 1-2 individuals to handle crime scene and evidence handling duties and can be civilian or a sworn peace officer. For instance, Layton PD has one evidence/crime scene person that is a classified civilian position whereas Davis County Sheriff's office has three sworn deputies that have crime scene response as an additional duty.
The educational background for these positions is varied and each agency sets its own policy in regards to hiring practices. The trend is to hire civilian technicians with a BA/BS degree, which can be either a science (e.g., chemistry, biology, etc…) or a nonscience (criminal justice, sociology, etc…) degree. Crime scene technicians receive specialized training in the recognition, documentation, collection and preservation of physical evidence. The Bureau of Forensic Services offers the one-week Crime Scene Academy to these individuals to help supplement this training.
For the most part, Criminalists do the majority of evidence analysis, however, some crime scene units offer limited testing capability. Most of this testing relates to latent print processing and comparison, serial number restoration and photography.
The major duty of crime scene personnel is the processing of crime scenes. An individual should expect a career that requires on-call duty, shift work and availability on weekends and all hours of the day. Unfortunately, most crime scenes do not occur during traditional business hours (8-5) and some scenes can be quite complex and demanding. Typically, the pay is lower than that of a police officer or Criminalist.
What do I need to do to get a job as a Criminalist?
Most crime laboratories, especially the ones that are ASCLD/LAB (American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors) accredited, require a BA/BS degree in a natural science to work in the chemistry/trace, and biology disciplines. There is some latitude in the latent print, questioned document and firearms/toolmark disciplines. Currently, a BA/BS degree with science courses is acceptable. However, there is a trend to strengthen these areas by gradually raising the educational criteria to that of the other disciplines.
General Education Criteria:
I would recommend the following for both chemistry and biology majors:
- General Chemistry (10 semester units)
- Organic Chemistry (10 semester units)
- Quantitative Analysis (3-4 semester units)
- Qualitative Analysis (3-4 semester units)
- Instrumental Analysis Laboratory (3-4 semester units) - This class would be focused on giving the student practical experience with instrumentation. It doesn't have to be top of the line equipment. I learned a lot with an old, packed column gc and a dispersive IR. We didn't have capillary columns or FTIR's, but the methodology is basically the same.
Now, as far as electives are concerned, a Criminalist must have the following FBI requirements:
- Biochemistry (3 semester units)
- Molecular Biology (3 semester units)
- Human Genetics (3 semester units)
- Statistics (3 semester units) and/or Population Genetics (3 semester units)
I would also recommend that Criminalists take the following course(s):
- Botany (3-4 semester units) This is a good course to have for any aspiring drug analyst to have. (Especially for the identification of Marijuana/Psilocyn/Peyote, etc...)
- Anatomy/Physiology (3-4 semester units) This is a good course to provide background for the biologist or reconstructionist. It will provide useful information for crime scene reconstruction, blood spatter or dealing with skeletal remains.
With this coursework, the chemist or biologist can work in any area of the crime laboratory. You have given the biologist 30+ semester units of chemistry so that they can work in the drug laboratory. This is often the "foot-in-the-door" position for entry-level personnel.
By having the chemist take the FBI requirements, you are prepared them to work in the DNA laboratory. As laboratories gear up to perform genetic analysis of convicted offenders, more people are being hired to staff CODIS (Combined DNA Indexing System) laboratories. Again, this might be the "foot-in-the-door" position for the chemist.
The biologist may take the chemist position to get in the DNA lab or the chemist may take the biologist position to get into the chemistry lab. Either way the "rookie" Criminalist is prepared for a job in the crime laboratory.
Now that you have prepared to be a scientist, you want to do something more. That is, you want to take courses that aren't given elsewhere. I would suggest the following:
- Laws of Evidence (CJ course)
- Criminalistics course (CJ 1350 at SLCC) This is a good introductory course or both criminal justice and scientists.
- Investigation course (CJ course)
- Crime Scene Processing (CJ Course) You have to teach them the basics of recognizing, documenting, collecting, and preserving physical evidence at crime scenes.
If you can possibly find these courses at a University, I would suggest the following as electives.
- Analysis of Controlled Substances - This would be an upper division course that would be taken after having had satisfied the chemistry requirements. The analysis of controlled substances would be explored indepth to include: color tests, GC, GC/MS, UV/VIS, acid/base extraction, FTIR, quantitative analysis, etc.
- Forensic Biology - Again, this would be another upper division course that would be taken after having satisfied at least the chemistry requirements. This class would explore, stain recognition, collection and identifcation (saliva, seminal fluid, urine, urease, etc..) . Following this, historical perspectives would be discussed including Serology (ABO's and isozymes--polymorphic enzymes, RFLP, AMFLPS, and finally, the most important - STR's).
- Comparative Evidence and its Evaluation - This class would discuss the broader scope of evidence received in the laboratory. Topics would include: Latent Fingerprint Development and comparison, Shoe/Tire Track Impressions, Glass fracture analysis, Questioned Documents, pattern recognition and matching. The class would be geared around the use of statistics to bolster the "science" of determining whether two items of evidence are comparable and the significance of that association.
- Firearms Investigation - This class would be used to introduce the student to the science behind the analysis of evidence associated with firearms. Familiarizing the student with firearms and their mechanical features as well as introducing the concept of striae for the "individualization" of firearms and toolmarks.
Other Criminalist Requirements:
Almost all laboratories require an extensive background investigation to include an employment history, interview of family, friends, professors and neighbors, polygraph examination (lie detector), drug screen, credit check (financial history), and thorough checks through all existing criminal databases. Typically, it takes about 6 weeks to complete a background examination.
Internship:
It is highly recommended that individuals interested in the field of forensic science do an internship in a crime laboratory. The Bureau of Forensic Services requires the following of all candidate interns:
- Be pursuing a BA/BS according to the requirements of each applicable discipline and be at least in the Junior or Senior year.
- Letter of recommendation from the college/university department you will receive credit from.
- Successfully pass a background check through NCIC.
In general, an internship will require you to work designated hours at the crime lab. The laboratory will try to make your experience as broad as possible, however, if you are trained in any particular assignment you will probably be spending more of your time doing that particular work. The number of hours you will work on any given week will be determined up front and you must be consistent in working that schedule. You will be asked to sign a contract at the beginning of your internship so there will be no surprises. Interns are not paid. At the conclusions of the internship, you will be asked to write a report. It would also be helpful to have an idea of areas of interest or research.
If you are chosen for an internship experience at a crime laboratory, congratulations!! If you are not chosen the first time around, don't give up. Keep trying. The field of forensic science is highly competitive; however, if you have an intense passion for this work, can pass the educational and background requirements, then you can work in the crime laboratory.
General Training Criteria:
Once hired, the new Criminalist will enter into a training phase. In general, training will last anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. This will typically qualify the Criminalist in a "basic" discipline (e.g., controlled substances analysis, serology screening, latent print processing). It takes about 5-7 years of training and casework before a Criminalist approaches the journeyman level, being able to handle more complex casework assignments. Typical training plans are as follows:
- Analysis of known substances
- Reading of relevant literature including books and journal articles
- Familiarization with laboratory techniques and instruments
- Written examinations
- Mock case examinations
- Co-working of cases with an experienced examiner
- Competency tests
- Moot court
- Proficiency tests
This training is for developing expertise in a given discipline. Additional training for crime scene processing, blood spatter reconstruction, etc… must be included on top of the discipline specific training. Thus, the well-rounded Criminalist is usually not completely trained and experienced in their discipline(s), crime scene response and other duties until 7-10 years of service.
Most of the above mentioned training occurs within the laboratory and is supplemented with external training received by a few external sources such as the California Criminalistics Institute.
www.cci.ca.gov (Visit this site to view the types of courses offered)
General Pay plan:
Criminalist I (entry level) - Utah - $28,000
Criminalist II (3 years) - Utah - $35,000
Senior Criminalist (5+) - Utah - $40,000
Supervising Criminalist - Utah - $45,000
Laboratory Director - Utah - $60,000