Forensic Science Technician Career - Jobs, Salary, Training

The first thing you should know about a career as a forensic science technician is that you cannot have any history of drug use or any criminal record. You'll have to pass lie detector tests, as well as background checks and drug tests, in order to get a position due to the sensitive nature of the work.

Because there are a lot of different areas of forensic science, there are different types of forensic science technicians. These include crime scene technicians, lab technicians, evidence room technicians, fingerprint identification technicians, and photographic technicians. You can tell from the description what these different forensic science technician jobs focus on. For example, crime scene technicians work mainly with crime scenes while lab technicians work mainly in the lab and photographic technicians are mainly involved with photographing the evidence.

In order to be able to perform these jobs, a forensic science degree is required as part of the training. Although some forensic science technicians have only an Associates degree, the trend is toward hiring those with at least a Bachelors degree. Some colleges and schools are even dropping the Bachelors degree option and only offering Masters degrees. The Bachelors degrees for forensic science technicians at universities whose programs are accredited by the American Academy of Forensic Science all take 5 years to complete instead of the usual 4 years due the the amount of information they need to learn to be effective in their careers.

Although not required by law, forensic science technicians can also get certifications from various agencies in order to increase their employability. These are offered by the The American Board of Criminalistics, The American Board of Forensic Entomology, The American Board of Forensic Document Examiners, The American Board of Forensic Toxicology, The National Registry in Clinical Chemistry, and The American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators.

There is a wide range of salaries for forensic science technicians depending on the type of organization they work for, the amount of experience and education they have, and where in the country they work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for forensic science technicians is $50,310 per year. The majority of technicians make between $36,560 and $61,210 per year.

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