Forensic technician jobs can vary greatly, but mostly deal with chemistry, biology, fingerprinting, or computers. Those with an aptitude in one of these areas can do well in the field, with attention to detail being key. Chemistry and biology backgrounds are helpful for identifying substances and body fluids, while fingerprinting and computer jobs are also available.
While all forensic technician jobs tend to find the truth behind an alleged criminal event, the jobs these technicians perform can be very specialized and can vary greatly. Although jobs can be classified in many different ways, jobs for forensic technicians mostly deal with chemistry, biology, fingerprinting or computers. In some cases, technicians can be cross-trained to perform more than one job if needed. Those who have an aptitude in one of these areas can do very well in that professional field. The key is to pay attention to details.
Those who have a background or have studied chemistry generally have a good chance of landing forensic technician jobs. These individuals may test materials for the presence of substances such as blood or other body fluids. Knowing how these fluids react to certain chemicals and how this can contaminate or destroy evidence is very important. For example, forensic technicians may have to determine the fabric type of a particular garment and choose a test chemical that will not harm that fabric or change the test results.
Forensic technician jobs can also include a great deal of biology. The technician may be responsible not only for identifying a body fluid, body tissue, or other important identifiers, but also who they belong to. This can help identify the suspect and the victim, if the identities of both are in question.
In addition to these jobs, some forensic technicians may specialize specifically in fingerprinting. In these cases, a technician can obtain a set of fingerprints taken directly from a suspect or from a crime scene and attempt to match them. This requires learning about the grooves that make up fingerprints, and it also requires close attention to detail, even though most matching is now done by computer. Technicians in these jobs may work for a local or state law enforcement agency or a national agency.
A relatively new class of forensic technician jobs involves computers. Whether it’s financial crimes or a variety of other potential crimes, computers can contain a wealth of information that can be vital to an investigation. If a suspect tries to get rid of the evidence, a computer forensics technician will be able to retrieve at least some of that information. In such cases, computer technicians can work hours trying to restore and recover data that would otherwise be lost.
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