Evidence technician vs crime scene specialist

The differences between evidence technicians and crime scene specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an evidence technician and a crime scene specialist. Additionally, a crime scene specialist has an average salary of $58,467, which is higher than the $44,213 average annual salary of an evidence technician.

The top three skills for an evidence technician include law enforcement agencies, criminal justice and data entry. The most important skills for a crime scene specialist are physical evidence, evidence collection, and patrol.

Evidence technician vs crime scene specialist overview

	Evidence Technician	Crime Scene Specialist
Yearly salary	$44,213	$58,467
Hourly rate	$21.26	$28.11
Growth rate	11%	11%
Number of jobs	5,316	283
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Average age	38	38
Years of experience	4	4

Evidence technician vs crime scene specialist salary

Evidence technicians and crime scene specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Evidence Technician	Crime Scene Specialist
Average salary	$44,213	$58,467
Salary range	Between $31,000 And $61,000	Between $36,000 And $92,000
Highest paying City	West Valley City, UT	-
Highest paying state	Alaska	-
Best paying company	Federal Bureau of Investigation	-
Best paying industry	Government	-

Differences between evidence technician and crime scene specialist education

There are a few differences between an evidence technician and a crime scene specialist in terms of educational background:

	Evidence Technician	Crime Scene Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Most common major	Criminal Justice	Criminal Justice
Most common college	Stanford University	California State University - Bakersfield

Evidence technician vs crime scene specialist demographics

Here are the differences between evidence technicians' and crime scene specialists' demographics:

	Evidence Technician	Crime Scene Specialist
Average age	38	38
Gender ratio	Male, 47.0% Female, 53.0%	Male, 45.8% Female, 54.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.2% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%	Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 8.5% White, 58.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between evidence technician and crime scene specialist duties and responsibilities

Evidence technician example responsibilities.

Monitor the CCTV cameras, parking lot, and front entrance.
Use of LIMS to assign unique tracking case numbers to submit specimens.
Liaisoned and coordinate efforts with DIA, FBI, SAIC Intel, and military personnel.
Act as main liaison with the software development team for new LIMS features, as well as a mobile mass-disaster LIMS.
Increase customer satisfaction by validating a more sensitive extraction method which produce more informative results.
Perform liquid/liquid and liquid solid chemical extractions, following standard operating procedures.

Crime scene specialist example responsibilities.

Manage customer information in customer management systems CIV.
Collect evidence using various collection and detection methods including photography, ALS and chemical processing.
Serve as firstresponder for accidents and disasters, applying cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other life- saving procedures as needed.

Evidence technician vs crime scene specialist skills

Common evidence technician skills

Law Enforcement Agencies, 15%
Criminal Justice, 15%
Data Entry, 10%
Crime Lab, 8%
NCIC, 6%
Evidence Collection, 4%

Common crime scene specialist skills

Physical Evidence, 46%
Evidence Collection, 13%
Patrol, 12%
Latent Prints, 5%
Diagramming, 5%
Law Enforcement Agencies, 4%

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Evidence Technician
Evidence Technician vs Crime Scene Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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