Let me preface this post by saying that CSI: Las Vegas may be one of my favorite shows (losing only to Lost and Alias). Especially the earlier season, the cast had such a great working dynamic that I enjoyed not just ONE character but the entire ensemble. They just seemed to work so well together and it was a joy to see them solve a crime.
In more recent seasons, the cast has changed. It’s no longer one of the shows that I take time out of my life to watch. While the episodes and story lines are still enjoyable, I haven’t grown fond of the new cast members and how they fit into the show. (It’s really just one new cast member, but still…)
However, one thing that hasn’t changed about the show is the great secondary characters – the lab technicians. In earlier seasons, theses characters ran the whole gamut of characters, from the quirky science dork, to the overly confident lab technician. These characters were great to watch, especially when they interacted with the main cast. One of the lab techs that you no longer see in later seasons is the QD technician – questionable documents. He was AMAZING to watch with the main cast and you could count on him to find something new and interesting to talk about in terms of QD.
While I do have a pretty decent science background, I don’t think I have enough to be a real CSI or a lab tech. However, if I were to really look into somehow gaining entry into the CSI world, I’d love to be the QD technician. Taking loose pages, figuring out what could have been written on them. Determining the authenticity of a document to show that the suspect had forged a letter. It all looks SO COOL to do.
I’ve also always been in love with paper and I’ve always been picky about the details. I can stare at an object for hours looking into the detail of it, like how the paper fibers are combed a certain way. Or how the pen leaves tell-tale marks.
I feel like I would be an AMAZING QD technician. Anyone out there have advice on how I could possibly get started? I’ve looked around to see how I could go about doing this, but I haven’t found much. This would be such a great thing to get into and would definitely make my roommate jealous. Every time I see the QD technician on TV, I say “I’d love to do that” to which my roommate would invariably say “PLEASE DO! I want someone I know to get into QD”. Let’s see what happens with it – possibly second career? Freelancer? Who knows.
Source: Questioned Document Examination