Career As a Crime Lab Technician

Introduction:

Crime lab technicians, otherwise known as police science technicians or forensic science technicians, are part of the process of solving crimes. They are very much familiar to using scientific laboratory methods to study and analyze the evidences gathered from the crime scenes. Their findings are often used to determine the innocence of falsely accused or the guilt of the criminals. CL technicians work side by side with local and state police officers and with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in the US or its equivalent in other countries.

Job Description:

CL technicians usually have specializations. Ballistic CL technicians are responsible for examining bullets and matching them to guns. Physical and chemical analysis technicians are responsible for examining a piece of glass from the victim's clothes or a chip of paint from a car. They also examine soil, hair, blood, biological tissues, body fluids, narcotics, and poisons. Some specialize in DNA analysis. Document CL technicians analyze blackmail notes, anonymous letters, and handwriting, as the paper used in writing the letter. Instruments CL technicians are responsible for matching the marks found on the victims to the tools suspected to have been used by the suspect. Fingerprints crime lab technicians are responsible for analyzing fingerprints and footprints, as well as tire thread. Photography CLtechnicians take photos of the crime scenes while polygraph technicians are responsible for giving lie detector tests and interpreting the results.

CL technicians use different equipment including infrared photography, microscopes, x-ray machines, ultraviolet light, and spectrographs. Thus, most crime lab technicians know how to use almost all the tools in the lab.

Educational Requirement:

Many crime laboratories and agencies now require anyone who wishes to have a career as a CL technician to complete a bachelor's degree in crime technology or forensic science, which cover investigative photography, crime detection, criminal investigation and evidence, fingerprint science, court procedures, and criminal law. There are many well-regarded programs in this field; however, the trend is geared to more advanced study courses.

Crime Lab Technician Salaries:

If you are just getting started out on your career as a crime lab technician, you can receive an annual salary of around $30,000 to $40,000. Those with many years of experience in crime lab technician jobs have an average annual salary $65,000, so experience certainly creates a big different in salary for a crime lab technician career.