How to become a Forensic Science Technician 2024

Forensic Science Technician 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.

Forensic Science Technician is Also Know as

In different settings, Forensic Science Technician is titled as

Crime Lab Analyst (Crime Laboratory Analyst)
Crime Scene Analyst (CSA)
Crime Scene Technician (Crime Scene Tech)
Criminalist
CSI (Crime Scene Investigator)
Evidence Technician (Evidence Tech)
Forensic Science Examiner
Forensic Scientist
Forensic Specialist
Latent Print Examiner

Education and Training of Forensic Science Technician

Forensic Science Technician is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Forensic Science Technician

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Education Required for Forensic Science Technician

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to Forensic Science Technician

Training Required for Forensic Science Technician

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Forensic Science Technician in different industries are

What Do Forensic Science Technician do?

Testify in court about investigative or analytical methods or findings.
Interpret laboratory findings or test results to identify and classify substances, materials, or other evidence collected at crime scenes.
Operate and maintain laboratory equipment and apparatus.
Prepare solutions, reagents, or sample formulations needed for laboratory work.
Collect evidence from crime scenes, storing it in conditions that preserve its integrity.
Identify and quantify drugs or poisons found in biological fluids or tissues, in foods, or at crime scenes.
Reconstruct crime scenes to determine relationships among pieces of evidence.
Collect impressions of dust from surfaces to obtain and identify fingerprints.
Analyze gunshot residue and bullet paths to determine how shootings occurred.
Visit morgues, examine scenes of crimes, or contact other sources to obtain evidence or information to be used in investigations.
Examine firearms to determine mechanical condition and legal status, performing restoration work on damaged firearms to obtain information, such as serial numbers.
Confer with ballistics, fingerprinting, handwriting, documents, electronics, medical, chemical, or metallurgical experts concerning evidence and its interpretation.
Compare objects, such as tools, with impression marks to determine whether a specific object is responsible for a specific mark.
Keep records and prepare reports detailing findings, investigative methods, and laboratory techniques.
Use chemicals or other substances to examine latent fingerprint evidence and compare developed prints to those of known persons in databases.
Train new technicians or other personnel on forensic science techniques.
Examine and analyze blood stain patterns at crime scenes.
Use photographic or video equipment to document evidence or crime scenes.
Review forensic analysts' reports for technical merit.
Determine types of bullets and specific weapons used in shootings.
Measure and sketch crime scenes to document evidence.
Examine footwear, tire tracks, or other types of impressions.
Examine physical evidence, such as hair, biological fluids, fiber, wood, or soil residues to obtain information about its source and composition.
Analyze DNA data to identify DNA donor profiles.
Analyze data from computers or other digital media sources for evidence related to criminal activity.

Qualities of Good Forensic Science Technician

Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Forensic Science Technician

35 millimeter cameras
Benchtop mixers
Biohazard suits
Blood collection kits
Body fluid collection kits
Breathalyzers
Colored camera filters
Crime scene evidence flags
Crime scene tape measures
Cyanoacrylate fuming chambers
Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA collection kits
Desktop computers
Digital cameras
Digital video cameras
Distance measuring wheels
Drug testing kits
Electronic measuring devices
Electronic precision balances
Electrostatic dust print lifters
Evidence collection containers
Evidence scissors
Fingerprint brushes
Fingerprint evidence kits
Fingerprint recognition systems
Footwear protectors
Fuming hot plates
Gel lifters
Glass specimen jars
Glassware washers
Gunshot residue kits
Hand held magnifiers
Handheld digital thermometers
Handheld evidence collection computers
Impression casting kits
Infrared light sources
Insect collection containers
Insect swoop nets
Inspection mirrors
Laboratory benchtop centrifuges
Laptop computers
Large format cameras
Laser trajectory kits
Long-wave ultraviolet UV lamps
Medical hemostats
Metal detectors
Microscope slides
Mobile data computers
Navigational compasses
Optical compound microscopes
Personal computers
Photo markers
Photographic scales
Plastic evidence tweezers
Plastic specimen jars
Pointed scalpels
Police vans
Portable generators
Portable lasers
Portable two way radios
Postmortem print spoons
Protective latex gloves
Protective masks
Protractors
Reciprocating saws
Rounded scalpels
Safety glasses
Self-contained breathing apparatus
Sexual assault evidence collection kits
Shovels
Sifting screens
Spades
Spectrophotometers
Stainless steel scissors
Stainless steel spatulas
Stainless steel tweezers
Steam sterilizers
Steel measuring tape
Thermocyclers
Ultraviolet UV camera lens filters
Ultraviolet UV lights
Utility knives
UV forensic goggles

Technology Skills required for Forensic Science Technician

Adobe Photoshop
Automated Biometric Identification System ABIS
Combined DNA Index System CODIS
Computer aided design and drafting CADD software
Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
DataWorks Plus Digital CrimeScene
DesignWare 3D EyeWitness
DM2 Bills of Lading
Eos Systems PhotoModeler
Graphics software
IBM Notes
Image enhancement software
Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System IAFIS
Laboratory information management system LIMS
Linux
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Word
Mideo Systems EZDoc Plus
Midwest Information Systems PAX-it
National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database
National Integrated Ballistics Information Network NIBIN
SmartDraw Legal
The CAD Zone The Crime Zone
Trancite Logic Systems ScenePD
Visual Statement Vista FX3 CSI
Web browser software
Word processing software

US Universities

How to become Forensic Science Technician in 2024