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.
I actually don't know. I haven't done DNA analysis in 20 years so I don't know all the details of what analysis can show. Sorry I can't be more help!
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Luminal and dye stains just enhance or show you where things are, like blood or fingerprints. DNA analysis and fingerprint analysis are equally effective, so you use what you have. You might have DNA at a crime scene but no fingerprints, or vice versa. We don’t get a choice of what’s left at a crime scene, so we have to make the most of whatever is there. Given that, whatever is the most effective is whatever gives you information relevant to the crime. Say there’s a smear of the victim’s blood on the suspect’s shirt. The suspect tells police he found the body and tried to administer CPR. In that case, the DNA is very much there, but useless to solve the crime. If the suspect says he never met the victim and the same shirt is found in the suspect’s closet , then that’s very relevant to solving the crime.
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Yes.
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I don’t see why not. But I wasn’t aware hair could be tested for alcohol, I thought it was only drugs and heavy metals.
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Are people appreciative when you help them or do they just treat you like a support monkey?
No, I've never regretted it. And your job title is whatever your agency says it is, so 'forensic scientist' and 'csi' can mean different things in different agencies, so you can certainly be both. the first implies you work mostly in the lab and the second implies you work mostly in the field, but depending on the size of the agency and any specialization you have, you might do both equally or they might be completely separate.
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Sure! Email me at Lisa-black@live.com.
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It helps. But I know good homicide detectives who do it for years and still have a weak stomach and they do fine.
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