Criminalist

State of Oklahoma • Edmond, OK

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Positions within this job family perform and/or manage forensic analysis of physical evidence from criminal cases and/or convicted offender DNA samples. This position is located in the Specialized Forensic Biology Unit within the Criminalistic Services Division at the Forensic Science Center in Edmond, OK.

Requirements

• Level I: a minimum of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.
• Level II: a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university plus one year of experience as a forensic laboratory criminalist.
• Level III: a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university plus three years of experience as a forensic laboratory criminalist.
• Applicants must possess or be eligible for a valid Oklahoma driver’s license.
• They must be able to meet the requirements for peace officer certification if required by the agency.
• They must possess the physical and mental stamina to perform the work and accept the inherent physical, chemical, and biological hazards.
• They need accurate vision with or without corrective lens and need to accurately distinguish between colors.
• They must be able to successfully complete any necessary training and certification required by the agency, be able to be called back to work at irregular times, be willing and able to work overtime when required, and be willing and able to travel frequently and be in travel status for extended periods of time.
• They must be willing to transfer where and when needed and to accept assignments anywhere in the state; pass a thorough character and background investigation; successfully pass a polygraph examination, drug screen and, if required by the agency, a psychological evaluation.
• Subsequent to an offer of employment, applicants may be required by the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System to satisfy psychological testing, medical examination and/or physical agility testing standards or requirements.
• The federal Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997 contained an amendment of the federal Gun Control Act of 1968. This amendment addresses misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence. Commissioned applicants must be able to satisfy the limitations contained in this federal law.
• Successful applicants must be willing to submit to a drug screen, polygraph examination, psychological evaluation (commissioned positions only), and a thorough background investigation.
• Certain events automatically disqualify an applicant, such as, felony conviction; admission of an undetected crime that, if known, would have been a felony charge; failure to pay federal or state income tax; positive confirmed drug urine test; illegal use of a controlled substance within certain time frames.
• Level I Preference: Minimum of a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited college or university in a biology-, chemistry-, or forensic science- related area.
• Any four-year or higher degree in a forensic science-related area must include emphasis in the sciences, such as biology, chemistry, etc.
• Criminalist I’s must also demonstrate successful completion (grade of a C or better) of college coursework covering a minimum of 2 of the 3 following subject areas: biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, each constituting an integral component of any coursework used to demonstrate compliance and as required/defined by the current FBI Quality Assurance Standards.
• For the subject areas of biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, each course must have been a minimum of 3 semester hours or equivalent.
• If an applicant has not completed college coursework in all three previously mentioned subject areas, successful completion of the missing coursework is required within the first year of employment.
• Any analyst hired/appointed/promoted or qualified (as defined by the laboratory in accordance with FBI Quality Assurance Standards, Standard 4.2) prior to July 1, 2020, shall have coursework and/or training in statistics and/or population genetics as it applies to forensic DNA analysis.
• Any analyst hired/appointed/promoted or qualified (as defined by the laboratory pursuant to Standard 4.2) on or after July 1, 2020, shall have successfully completed coursework covering statistics and/or population genetics.
• Level II Preference: OSBI will give preference to candidates who possess the Level I requirements plus one year of experience working as a Criminalist within any forensic discipline of the OSBI Criminalistics Services Division, or one year of comparable forensic biology/DNA analysis experience with another agency.
• Level III Preference: OSBI will give preference to candidates who possess the Level II requirements plus two additional years of full‑time experience working as a Criminalist (or in a comparable role) performing forensic biology/DNA analysis.
• Experience must have been full‑time and the primary job responsibility to be qualifying.

Nice To Haves

• Depending upon selective qualifications, experience may be in controlled substances, trace evidence, forensic biology, serology, forensic DNA, toxicology, questioned documents, digital evidence, firearms/toolmarks, or latent prints.
• Some positions may require certification by the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialist (IACIS) as a Certified Forensic Computer Examiner.

Responsibilities

• Performs scientific analysis on evidence items submitted for forensic testing, issues reports on his/her findings.
• Performs all activities in accordance with the OSBI quality system, OSBI policies, OSBI protocols, ISO IEC 17025 and QAS 2025 accreditation standards, federal/state statutes, and safety policies.
• Administratively and technically reviews the work of other Criminalists to ensure policies/procedures were followed in analyses.
• Complies with subpoenas, other orders of the court, and testifies as an expert witness.
• Other duties as assigned, including but not limited to quality control, research/validation, audits, and training of OSBI personnel and stakeholders.
• 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 about proposed legislation and occasionally testifies before legislative bodies to explain legislative changes that are needed.
• Performs administrative and/or technical review of forensic work; performs internal quality audits/inspections of units, regions, disciplines, and laboratory functions; ensures technical compliance, quality, and uniformity; understands and complies with standards required for the laboratory to maintain international accreditation and federal standards regulating the analysis of DNA evidence and DNA database profiles.
• Develops and maintains effective professional communications and working relationships with peers, co-workers, supervisors, administrators, law enforcement officers, medical examiners, forensic professionals, prosecutors, defense attorneys, educators, and professional organizations; advises, educates and assists investigators and prosecutors in furthering criminal investigations and in preparing cases for trial by providing guidance on appropriate laboratory testing, and on the meaning, significance and applicability of the results of forensic analysis.

Benefits

• The State of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of genetic information, race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, or disability.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level