Do you enjoy the thrill and challenge of being the first one to investigate a crime scene? Do you want to pursue such an exciting career but are somehow perplexed about how to become a Crime Scene Investigator?
Here is a quick reference guide that tells you all that you need to know in order to help you pursue the career of your dreams.
Overview
A Crime Scene Investigator or more popularly known as CSI is an individual whose job is to visit various crime scenes, first hand and gather all the evidence that they possibly can. Typically, their duty involves assisting the police or the local sheriff in securing and working the crime scene, followed by preserving and gathering evidence and finally transporting the evidence to the labs to search for clues. Contact Crime Scene Cleanup & Death Cleanup Collierville TN for more help.
Educational Pre-requisite
In order to become a CSI, you should at least complete a bachelor’s degree either in criminal justice or physical science. However, in order to advance your career prospects, you must also obtain a master’s degree followed by training as a police officer.
Thanks to the latest technological developments, you can easily avail a specialized CSI degree online for both the bachelor’s and master’s levels. However, apart from basic education, learning how to become a Crime Scene Investigator also involves learning certain skills. Some of these skills include:
- Ability to maintain and protect the chain of events
- knowledge of exposing, photographing, and collecting latent fingerprints
- Ability to use various chemicals, gadgets and technologies to collect evidence
- Flexibility to work at odd hours rather than a typical 9 to 5 job as well as maintaining your diligence throughout your course of work
- Capability to work well in a team as opposed to working alone
- Possessing a strong stomach for blood
Duties and Responsibilities
If you want to fully understand how to become a Crime Scene Investigator, you must be well aware of the responsibilities and the various duties involved in this line of work.
Investigating the scene of the crime is the first step toward solving a crime. As a CSI, you can expect a busy career, working at different hours of the day or night. A normal working day for a CSI involves being called on to the scenes of burglaries, home invasions, sexual assaults, and even murders.
In such cases, you will be required to carefully assess and explore the scene of the crime, take photographs, lookout for fingerprints or any other traces of evidence. Once you are done with the crime scene, you will be required to write detailed reports and document your findings. Many times, you might also be asked to analyze autopsies and at times even testify in courts.