Collect, identify, classify, and analyze physical evidence related to criminal investigations. Perform tests on weapons or substances, such as fiber, hair, and tissue to determine significance to investigation. May testify as expert witnesses on evidence or crime laboratory techniques. May serve as specialists in area of expertise, such as ballistics, fingerprinting, handwriting, or biochemistry.
U.S. Workers
19,450
Median Salary
$67,440
10-Year Growth
+12.8%
Annual Openings
2,900
Typical entry: Bachelor's degree
19 of 21 tasks have some AI capability
Exposure Trend
This score reflects estimated AI technical capability for tasks in this occupation. It does not predict employment changes, and it does not account for company-specific constraints, regulation, or adoption barriers.
Identify and quantify drugs or poisons found in biological fluids or tissues, in foods, or at crime scenes.
AI: Fully automatable - Identification and quantification of drugs and many poisons via validated instrumental methods (LC-MS, GC-MS) with automated data-processing software is routinely fully automatable.
Keep records and prepare reports detailing findings, investigative methods, and laboratory techniques.
AI: Partial - AI can maintain logs and draft detailed reports from lab outputs and metadata, but legal admissibility, interpretive narrative, and formal sign-off in forensic contexts typically require human experts.
Collect evidence from crime scenes, storing it in conditions that preserve its integrity.
AI: Partial - AI and robotics can assist or semi-automate evidence collection, but preserving integrity and chain-of-custody requires on-scene human judgement and legally accountable handling.
Use chemicals or other substances to examine latent fingerprint evidence and compare developed prints to those of known persons in databases.
AI: Partial - Automated matching to fingerprint databases is highly capable, but chemical development of latent prints and chain-of-evidence procedures require manual handling and expert judgement.
Interpret laboratory findings or test results to identify and classify substances, materials, or other evidence collected at crime scenes.
AI: Partial - AI can analyze laboratory data and suggest classifications or hypotheses, but full interpretation requires human expert judgment, context, and legal accountability.
Use photographic or video equipment to document evidence or crime scenes.
AI: Partial - Autonomous cameras and drones plus AI image-capture workflows can document scenes, but scene judgement, admissibility concerns, and physical setup typically require human oversight.
Visit morgues, examine scenes of crimes, or contact other sources to obtain evidence or information to be used in investigations.
AI: Partial - Remote sensors, telepresence, and AI can augment investigations, but physical examinations at morgues, scenes, and interpersonal evidence-gathering still demand human presence and discretion.
Reconstruct crime scenes to determine relationships among pieces of evidence.
AI: Partial - AI can generate detailed 3D reconstructions and probabilistic relationships from data, but final interpretive reconstruction and legal interpretation require human expertise.
Review forensic analysts' reports for technical merit.
AI: Partial - AI tools can flag methodological errors, check calculations, and summarize conformity to standards, but final technical review and certification remain a human responsibility.
Operate and maintain laboratory equipment and apparatus.
AI: Partial - Many instruments can be autonomously operated and monitored, yet routine maintenance, troubleshooting, and responsibility for lab operations still need skilled humans.
Examine and analyze blood stain patterns at crime scenes.
AI: Partial - AI can assist with bloodstain pattern imaging, simulation, and probabilistic reconstruction, but complex scene context and interpretive judgments still need human expertise.
Examine physical evidence, such as hair, fiber, wood, or soil residues to obtain information about its source and composition.
AI: Partial - Instrumental analyses and pattern-matching for materials (hair, fiber, soil) can be automated, yet definitive source attribution and nuanced interpretation typically require human oversight.
Examine firearms to determine mechanical condition and legal status, performing restoration work on damaged firearms to obtain information, such as serial numbers.
AI: Partial - AI can help diagnose firearm condition and guide procedures, but hands-on examination and metalwork restoration to recover identifiers require skilled human technicians.
Compare objects, such as tools, with impression marks to determine whether a specific object is responsible for a specific mark.
AI: Partial - Automated imaging and pattern-matching can strongly support toolmark comparisons, but final determination involves expert judgment about variability, wear, and admissibility.
Analyze gunshot residue and bullet paths to determine how shootings occurred.
AI: Partial - AI can analyze GSR chemical data and model bullet trajectories from measurements and imagery, but evidence collection, scene constraints, and legal interpretation need human input.
Determine types of bullets and specific weapons used in shootings.
AI: Partial - AI-assisted ballistic imaging and database matching can often determine bullet type and suggest weapon matches, but conclusive attribution and court-admissible opinion still rely on human experts.
Confer with ballistics, fingerprinting, handwriting, documents, electronics, medical, chemical, or metallurgical experts concerning evidence and its interpretation.
AI: Partial - AI can synthesize expert analyses and facilitate communication, but substantive expert-to-expert consultation and attribution of interpretive judgment remain human tasks.
Prepare solutions, reagents, or sample formulations needed for laboratory work.
AI: Partial - Lab automation can prepare many solutions and formulations, but safety, quality control, and nonstandard preparations require human oversight and verification.
Train new technicians or other personnel on forensic science techniques.
AI: Partial - AI can provide training content, simulations, and assessment, but hands-on instruction, mentorship, and accreditation of new forensic technicians still rely on human trainers.
Testify in court about investigative or analytical methods or findings.
AI: Not automatable - AI cannot serve as a sworn, legally accountable expert witness in court and can only provide draft testimony or supporting analysis for a human to present.
Collect impressions of dust from surfaces to obtain and identify fingerprints.
AI: Not automatable - Collecting dust impressions and fingerprint lifts is a physical, scene-preservation task requiring manual dexterity and on-scene decision-making that AI cannot perform autonomously in 2025.