Every second show on television seems to be about forensic science?CSI, NCIS, etc but the reality is not all flash suits and guns, writes Alice Hudson, who also speaks to a real life forensics expert with a past life as a schoolteacher
There are no guns or Armani suits? this is not America, or television, says police crime scene attendant Rachel Nickerson. Rachel's one of six non-sworn police staff who work full-time, dusting for fingerprints and checking for blood and other forensic evidence that criminals may have left behind at Auckland crime scenes?mainly burglaries. The former science teacher says there's nothing better than the feeling you get from a ''hit''?when a fingerprint you discover leads uniformed colleagues to make an arrest. However, the Te Atatu woman reckons there are too many crime shows on TV, prompting the criminally minded to cover their tracks. Rachel was researching basic forensics for her high school students in the Bay of Plenty when she unexpectedly stumbled upon a new passion. She moved to Auckland to study forensic science at Auckland University and while writing her masters thesis?which required her to search for bodily fluids left in motels?the CSA job came up. Rachel says CSAs often get called to other scenes, such as assaults, robberies or ''burgs on'' (when the burglar was seen at the property and the scene will be ''fresh'', more likely to yield evidence). She recently got ''a hit'' from a nasty incident in which an occupant of a house was assaulted by an intruder. ''It makes it all worthwhile.
Classroom to crime scene
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