Crime Scene Investigation, Bloodstain Pattern Analysis,
Consultation and Education
for
Criminal, Civil and Insurance Investigations

CRIME SCENE - DO NOT ENTER

Professional Inquiries Only
Please

Edmonton, Alberta
CANADA

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Question:
I am a Canadian student interested in pursuing schooling in forensics and a career in crime scene     investigation.  I have been looking at different schools to see if they would offer courses in this area.  I have found the Applied Justice at Mount Royal but that is about all.  Could you tell me how I can pursue my goals?

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Answer:
I get your question VERY often..................
Unfortunately, in Canada and in most areas of the United States, the only way to pursue  a career a field in forensics that involves actual at the scene crime scene investigation is through a law enforcement (police) career.  Generally, all people involved in crime scene investigations are serving police officers.  The only opportunities for civilians in forensics are as support staff with a police agency or as a scientist working a forensic lab such as the RCMP Forensic Lab, the Ontario Center of Forensic Sciences or through a local Coroners or Medical Examiners office.  However, the people working in the lab setting generally find that there work is confined with the laboratory and they do not normally attend the scene to conduct investigations.

At times, civilians can be hired as outside consultants to provide expertise in a particular investigation.  This does not occur very often and some of the more common are in the areas of forensic anthropology, odontology (teeth) or entomology (insects).

Some police agencies do hire civilians to work within their forensic units as support staff.  Some of the more common duties include photo technicians, latent print search (AFIS) technicians or criminal history technicians (taking known sets of prints from people charged with criminal offences).  

To put it bluntly, contrary to what you see on television, in order to become a CSI, you have to become a cop first.  Once you do that, you have to spend a MINIMUM of five years working the street before you can apply to a specialized unit such as forensics.  Your time on the street will include going to family fights, writing traffic tickets etc. etc..  Getting into a police forensics unit is also a competitive process and it is not a guarantee that you will be accepted, but having a scientific background at that point would be a definite asset.

At this time, I am not aware of any Canadian degree programs that our offered in forensic sciences.  The training received by police officers to work as crime scene investigators is usually through the Canadian Police College in Ottawa or in-house through their agency.

Question:

What do I need and how do I apply to take a course in Bloodstain Pattern Analysis?

Answer:

At this time, most bloodstain courses , including ours, are restricted to serving police officers or forensic lab personnel only.  There our some courses that may accept non-police students and I suggest you contact the specific course administrators for further clarification.  A current list of the available courses can be viewed at the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts site at www.iabpa.org .  

In order to properly learn bloodstain pattern analysis and to become a competent and qualified expert in the field, a student must have years of previous experience in crime scene investigation and should spend years after, specific to examining scenes and conducting experiments relating to bloodstain pattern analysis.  Unless you are a member of a police agency, you will not be able to have exposure to those situations.