Criminalist

okgov; Oklahoma; On-site; USD 68,000 - 94,000; Full time

Job summary

The 308 State Bureau of Investigation in Edmond, OK, is seeking a Criminalist to perform forensic analysis of physical evidence, including trace chemical/physical analyses, and to testify in court. The position is located in the Trace Evidence Unit within the Criminalistics Services Division at the Forensic Science Center in Edmond, OK.

Candidate duties include maintaining chain of custody, adhering to accreditation standards, and staying current with literature and proficiency testing.

Qualifications

• Performs scientific analysis on items of evidence submitted for forensic testing, including chemical and physical analysis of trace evidence.
• Tests and testifies in court on forensic findings.
• Maintains chain of custody and handles evidence following policy and accreditation standards.
• Keeps proficiency up-to-date with literature reviews and continuing education.
• Trains other analysts, law enforcement officers, attorneys, and others as requested.

Responsibilities

• Generates complete, accurate documentation and laboratory reports for law enforcement and criminal justice use.
• Follows validated safety, quality assurance, and health procedures.
• Interprets and records results; enters data into forensic databases such as CODIS, AFIS, PDQ, and NIBIN.
• Responds to crime scenes and morgue requests as needed; collects and preserves evidence.

Job description

Job Posting Title

Criminalist

Agency

308 STATE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

Supervisory Organization

State Bureau of Investigation

Job Posting End Date

Refer to the date listed at the top of this posting, if available. Continuous if date is blank.

Estimated Appointment End Date (Continuous if Blank)

Full/Part-Time

Full time

Job Type

Regular

Compensation

• Level I: $68,122.50
• Level II: $80,080.00
• Level III: $93,587.00

Job Description

This position is located in the Trace Evidence Unit within the Criminalistics Services Division at the Forensic Science Center in Edmond, OK.

Basic Purpose

Positions within this job family perform and/or manage forensic analysis of physical evidence from criminal cases and/or convicted offender DNA samples.

Major Work Duties

• Performs scientific analysis on items of evidence submitted for forensic testing, including but not limited to chemical and physical analysis of trace evidence, issues report on their findings, and testifies in court.
• Performs all activities in accordance with the OSBI quality system, OSBI policies, protocols, accreditation standards, federal/state statutes, etc.
• Manages evidence according to policy and accreditation standards and maintains proper chain of custody. May collect evidence from crime scenes/morgue responses, as applicable, handles evidence in casework, and returns or retains evidence as appropriate.
• Stays current with proficiency tests, up-to-date with literature reviews and/or other continuing education, and conducts other duties as assigned, including but not limited to quality control, research/validation, and performing verifications and review of other analysts' casework.
• Responds to crime scenes and morgue requests as needed. Trains other analysts, law enforcement officers, attorneys, and others as requested/assigned.

Typical Functions

• Strictly adheres to validated and internationally accepted scientific principles, methods, and quality assurance/quality control; follows safety and health procedures; examines and analyzes various types of forensic evidence from criminal cases and/or convicted offender DNA samples and accurately interprets the results; generates complete, accurate documentation and files of all forensic analysis performed; prepares laboratory examination reports for use by law enforcement entities and criminal justice members; enters/searches evidence profiles/patterns in forensic databases such as CODIS, AFIS, PDQ, and NIBIN.
• Processes and interprets crime scenes in the field routinely being exposed to biohazardous and chemical dangers; recognizes, documents, collects, packages, and transports physical evidence to a forensic laboratory for analysis, ensuring the integrity of the evidence is protected. Fingerprints deceased persons for the medical examiner's office to aid in identifications and investigations, occasionally retrieving body parts to process them in a sterile lab environment; receives medical examiner's evidence to submit to an OSBI laboratory.
• Complies with subpoenas, discovery orders, and other orders of the court; testifies as an expert in court and/or administrative hearings concerning the results of forensic examinations of physical evidence and crime scenes; prepares court exhibits as necessary.
• Actively reviews and assesses publications and directives being introduced at the federal level to determine impacts on state and local laboratories and practices; seeks membership on federal boards and organizations to influence direction of forensics; researches scientific/technical literature and forensic methods; attends training to maintain current knowledge and skills; develops/validates new or improved techniques/instrumentation for use in the forensic analysis of physical evidence; writes, reviews, and updates technical protocols, quality assurance policy/procedures, safety and health policies, and operational policies/procedures.
• Identifies grant programs that can provide needed funding to the laboratory; actively participates in writing grant applications and producing regularly scheduled grant reports to federal and state grant administrators to prove compliance with stringent grant program requirements; develops and closely monitors grant budgets when grants have been awarded.
• Provides training to criminalists, agents, crime scene technicians, student interns, law enforcement officers, forensic scientists, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges; represents the laboratory at committees, meetings, boards, and professional organizations; makes presentations to civic, educational, professional, law enforcement and other interested groups; and occasionally gives media interviews.
• Monitors proposed legislation to evaluate its impact on the forensic community; writes new legislation or modifies existing legislation when needed to improve the field of forensics in Oklahoma; educates law makers