Forensic Analyst

Biological Evidence:
A forensic analysts job is to analyse the evidence that was discovered by the SOCO team at the crime scene, they usually do not need to leave the lab as the evidence is sent directly to them. This type of forensic analyst only deals with biological evidence that had been found at a crime scene, this would include blood, DNA, bodily fluids, etc. As they only deal with a specific type of evidence they are known as a specialist forensic analyst, this means that they will not be needed in every case, they will only be needed if any of the evidence found at a crime scene is biological. If a specialist forensic analyst who only deals with biological evidence attended a different investigation then their roles and responsibilities would not change as they are only their to analyse the biological evidence, the only thing that would change is the type of biological evidence they would receive for each investigation.

Physical Evidence:

A forensic analysts job is to analyse evidence that was found by the scenes of crime officers, the evidence is sent directly to them which means that they do not have to leave the laboratory. This type of forensic scientist would only deal with physical pieces of evidence sent in, for example they would be sent weapons such as knives, items of clothing, bullets, etc. As they only deal with specific pieces of evidence (physical evidence/ objects) they are not needed in every investigation as every investigation will not present a physical piece of evidence to be examined. A specialist forensic analyst is a very big part of any investigation team as they would know more about that subject than any other member of the team which would help the case to advance at a faster rate, this would benefit not only the case but also the main investigators of the investigation as they would get the information about the evidence a lot quicker. If a specialist forensic analyst who only deals with physical evidence attended a different investigation then their roles and responsibilities would not change as they are only their to analyse the physical evidence, the only thing that would change is the type of physical evidence they would receive for each investigation.

In a fire investigation a forensic analysts role is to analyse the evidence that was found at the scene by the scenes of crime officers, they are not required to actually visit the scene of a crime at any point during the fire investigation, all of their work is done from inside the laboratory. This means that they heavily rely on the scenes of crime officers to do their role correctly, this would include making sure all the evidence that is sent to the forensic analyst is contamination free and if it is not then the analyst should be warned, if they are not aware of this then they could analyse the evidence wasting time as it can not be used as evidence in court. According to aboutforensics.co.uk the scenes of crime officers would also need to correctly tag every piece of evidence so that when it arrives in the lab the forensic analyst can get an idea of exactly what it is they are going to be analysing, if this information is not present then the analyst will not know what types of tests to actually perform on the evidence. Another organisation or agency that they will be in constant contact with throughout the fire investigation would be the forensic scientists also working on the same case as the analyst would need to provide them with evidence as well as constant updates about their findings so that the forensic scientist can then link their findings to the potential suspects that have been found by the police. Overall, i think that the forensic analyst plays a very important role in a fire investigation as the supporting evidence that they provide the police and the forensic scientists with can result in the person who committed the crime and caused the fire being sentenced for their actions, without them it would be very difficult for the police and forensic scientists alone to find out who committed the crime. However, a potential downfall would be that a lot of other organisations and agencies such as the police and forensic scientists rely on the work that they are doing which means that if they make a mistake on a test and get the wrong result but do not realize it then that piece of evidence that is then sent to the forensic scientist is false, this will result in the evidence having to be sent back and a second test needing to be done which not only wastes time but also money.