Forensic Science Technicians

Collect, identify, classify, and analyze physical evidence related to criminal investigations. Perform tests on weapons or substances, such as fiber, hair, and tissue to determine significance to investigation. May testify as expert witnesses on evidence or crime laboratory techniques. May serve as specialists in area of expertise, such as ballistics, fingerprinting, handwriting, or biochemistry.

Job Task

• Analyze and classify biological fluids using DNA typing or serological techniques.
• Analyze gunshot residue and bullet paths in order to determine how shootings occurred.
• Analyze handwritten and machine-produced textual evidence to decipher altered or obliterated text or to determine authorship, age, and/or source.
• Collect evidence from crime scenes, storing it in conditions that preserve its integrity.
• Collect impressions of dust from surfaces in order to obtain and identify fingerprints.
• Compare objects such as tools with impression marks in order to determine whether a specific object is responsible for a specific mark.
• Confer with ballistics, fingerprinting, handwriting, documents, electronics, medical, chemical, or metallurgical experts concerning evidence and its interpretation.
• Determine types of bullets used in shooting and if fired from a specific weapon.
• Examine DNA samples to determine if they match other samples.
• Examine physical evidence such as hair, fiber, wood or soil residues in order to obtain information about its source and composition.
• Identify and quantify drugs and poisons found in biological fluids and tissues, in foods, and at crime scenes.
• Interpret laboratory findings and test results in order to identify and classify substances, materials, and other evidence collected at crime scenes.
• Keep records and prepare reports detailing findings, investigative methods, and laboratory techniques.
• Reconstruct crime scenes in order to determine relationships among pieces of evidence.
• Examine firearms in order to determine mechanical condition and legal status, performing restoration work on damaged firearms in order to obtain information such as serial numbers.
• Interpret the pharmacological effects of a drug or a combination of drugs on an individual.
• Operate and maintain laboratory equipment and apparatus.
• Prepare solutions, reagents, and sample formulations needed for laboratory work.
• Testify in court about investigative and analytical methods and findings.
• Visit morgues, examine scenes of crimes, or contact other sources in order to obtain evidence or information to be used in investigations.
• Perform polygraph examination by explaining tests to subjects, attaching equipment to measure physiological responses, questioning subjects, and recording and interpreting subsequent machine readouts.
• Test race horses and racing dogs for substances that may affect their performances.

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