With rising number of incidents of crime and fraud, the need for forensic experts has increased manifold. DR BHOOPESH K SHARMA shares tips on how one can make it a lucrative option

In the present scenario, as the crime is increasing day by day, there is an immense need of a discipline that could teach the youngsters that how to detect and prevent the crime happening in the society. For this particular purpose, they have to have the specialised knowledge of the subject that could be applied to overcome all these problems rising day by day; therefore, the Forensic Science comes into the scene. Currently, the crime rate is increasing at a terrifically as well as the criminals have become as smart as it is becoming too difficult to handle such criminals by police personals solely.

Forensic Science is basically the application of various scientific principles and techniques in terms of law for the purpose of justice. The Forensic Science is that branch of science that deals with investigation, collection, examination, analysis and comparison of the evidences encountered at the scene of crime. The physical evidences are all those evidences that are encountered at a particular scene of crime. These may include fingerprints, footprints, blood, hair, fiber, semen, saliva, trace elements etc.

Need and scope

With the rising number of incidents of crime and fraud all over the world, the scope of forensic science is definitely rising. Today there is an immense need of Forensic personals both in the Government as well as Private Sector. The Police labs, Crime Branches, CID, Investigation Bureau, Defense/Army, Courts, Narcotics Department, Universities,Detective Agencies, Banks, Insurance Companies and other Multi National Companies are hiring the services of the Forensic Scientists. Apart from this one can even engage himself/herself in private practice and can work as a freelance forensic expert for the banks, insurance companies, individual clients and other law enforcement agencies. Forensic Experts having expertise in different fields like fingerprint, handwriting, ballistics, toxicology, odontology, crime scene investigation and such others can collect clues from the crime scene and elsewhere and can convert them into evidences to prove a crime or to solve a case.

Forensic Scientists and their work pattern

Forensic Scientists are trained to locate, collect and examine the trace evidences that are left by the criminal at the scene of crime. Such as fingerprints, footprints, blood, hair and others. It is only the forensic scientist who knows the proper collection and examination technique of particular evidence in a specific crime. Over in all the success or failure of a crime investigation depends upon the proper collection and evaluation of the evidences encountered at the scene of crime. Therefore, the forensic scientists play an important role during crime and criminal investigation and for this he has to be a keen observer with analytics skills.

Education and career prospects in forensic sciences

To opt a career in Forensic science one has to have the science background as most of the areas of Forensic science are the application of various branches of science including solving a crime and analysing the evidences. Therefore, the one who is having a science background can make his/her career in Forensic Science.

The candidates who want to make their career in forensic science can opt for any specialisation from general forensics, forensic anthropology, forensic dentistry, crime scene investigation, questioned document & handwriting examination, fingerprint science, forensic toxicology, forensic biology and serology, forensic ballistics and explosives.

How one can be a good forensic scientist?

• He has to be keen observer as he has to visit the crime scene and look for the evidences so an unskilled person may overlook certain evidences but a skilled forensic scientist will observe the crime scene thoroughly and will try to gather more and more information.
• He must be methodical with research skills and thorough in his investigations.
• He has to have Patience as many of the cases may take lot of his time just to reach a conclusion. Sometimes a forensic scientist has to analyze the evidence again and again and perform his investigation several time to look for more clues and corroborative evidences.
• He has to have the basic knowledge of all scientific areas and also have the skills to apply different scientific discipline in the investigation of crime and examination of the evidences
• The detective view and solving skills are very important for a forensic scientist.
• And lastly he has to have good communication skills as he has to opine in the court of law so he is to be able to explain the findings clearly to lawyers, jurors and the public.

There are many new emerging areas in forensic science that includes forensic psychology, forensic paleontology, forensic genomics, tele forensics, forensic accountancy, forensic archeology, digital forensic, cyber forensics.

Job prospects

A forensic scientist can work as a freelance forensic expert and can give his opinion in various areas of forensic science to court, lawyers and detectives, they can work in Govt. Forensic Science Laboratories on various posts, they can work as freelance Questioned Document and Fingerprint expert and others. Also they can work in banking and insurance sectors. All in all in present scenario the Forensic Scientists are in great demand to solve a large number of cases and to combat this requirement, Govt. is taking action to open more and more institutions to provide the degrees and training in the area of Forensic Science. The candidate can opt this booming area and can make career in this ocean of investigation. The job market is very good in this booming area but one has to keep in mind that he can also be a freelance expert and can earn more in the area than a Job.

The writer is Asstistant Professor & Program Leader, Department of Forensic Science, Amity University