Evidence technician vs forensic toxicologist

The differences between evidence technicians and forensic toxicologists 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 forensic toxicologist. Additionally, a forensic toxicologist has an average salary of $70,179, 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 forensic toxicologist are ms, laboratory equipment, and GC.

Evidence technician vs forensic toxicologist overview

	Evidence Technician	Forensic Toxicologist
Yearly salary	$44,213	$70,179
Hourly rate	$21.26	$33.74
Growth rate	11%	11%
Number of jobs	5,316	807
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Bachelor's Degree, 81%
Average age	38	38
Years of experience	4	4

Evidence technician vs forensic toxicologist salary

Evidence technicians and forensic toxicologists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Evidence Technician	Forensic Toxicologist
Average salary	$44,213	$70,179
Salary range	Between $31,000 And $61,000	Between $39,000 And $123,000
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 forensic toxicologist education

There are a few differences between an evidence technician and a forensic toxicologist in terms of educational background:

	Evidence Technician	Forensic Toxicologist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Bachelor's Degree, 81%
Most common major	Criminal Justice	Chemistry
Most common college	Stanford University	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Evidence technician vs forensic toxicologist demographics

Here are the differences between evidence technicians' and forensic toxicologists' demographics:

	Evidence Technician	Forensic Toxicologist
Average age	38	38
Gender ratio	Male, 47.0% Female, 53.0%	Male, 53.1% Female, 46.9%
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, 9.9% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 15.8% Asian, 10.1% White, 56.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between evidence technician and forensic toxicologist 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.

Forensic toxicologist example responsibilities.

Perform Headspace GC analysis for presence and concentration determination of alcohols and other volatile substances in biological samples.
Used laboratory information management system (LIMS) to track casework and release results.
SOP's have to be constantly update and follow to detail to prepare the samples accurately before extraction.
Prepare samples for analysis through extraction of control substances from biological matrices.
Duplicate VHS tapes and various other types of media to DVD.
Perform confirmatory semen testing (p30 ELISA and microscopic slide searches for spermatozoa) on casework samples.

Evidence technician vs forensic toxicologist skills

Common evidence technician skills

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

Common forensic toxicologist skills

Ms, 23%
Laboratory Equipment, 13%
GC, 10%
LC, 9%
Sops, 7%
Immunoassay, 7%

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Evidence Technician
Evidence Technician vs Forensic Toxicologist

Updated January 8, 2025

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