Forensic investigator vs forensic document examiner

The differences between forensic investigators and forensic document examiners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a forensic investigator and a forensic document examiner. Additionally, a forensic document examiner has an average salary of $56,007, which is higher than the $52,267 average annual salary of a forensic investigator.

The top three skills for a forensic investigator include incident response, windows and FTK. The most important skills for a forensic document examiner are customer service, , and .

Forensic investigator vs forensic document examiner overview

	Forensic Investigator	Forensic Document Examiner
Yearly salary	$52,267	$56,007
Hourly rate	$25.13	$26.93
Growth rate	11%	11%
Number of jobs	5,032	5,304
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 54%
Average age	38	38
Years of experience	4	4

Forensic investigator vs forensic document examiner salary

Forensic investigators and forensic document examiners have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Forensic Investigator	Forensic Document Examiner
Average salary	$52,267	$56,007
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $98,000	Between $28,000 And $109,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between forensic investigator and forensic document examiner education

There are a few differences between a forensic investigator and a forensic document examiner in terms of educational background:

	Forensic Investigator	Forensic Document Examiner
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 54%
Most common major	Criminal Justice	Criminal Justice
Most common college	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Forensic investigator vs forensic document examiner demographics

Here are the differences between forensic investigators' and forensic document examiners' demographics:

	Forensic Investigator	Forensic Document Examiner
Average age	38	38
Gender ratio	Male, 65.1% Female, 34.9%	Male, 47.1% Female, 52.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.1% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%	Black or African American, 6.8% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.4% Asian, 11.4% White, 62.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between forensic investigator and forensic document examiner duties and responsibilities

Forensic investigator example responsibilities.

Receive multiple letters of commendation for effective investigations that lead to successful prosecutions.
Prepare investigative reports, scientific forensic analysis reports and other documents in support of civil litigation.
Perform in-depth forensic analysis of Macintosh computer hard drives and prepare expert report for use in ongoing litigation.
Prepare affidavits of information and apply for investigative or grand jury subpoenas and other legal orders necessary for a thorough investigation.
Present to schools, community organizations, and local corporations prevention techniques in a PowerPoint format.
Evaluate impressions for AFIS (automate fingerprint identification system) potential.

Forensic document examiner example responsibilities.

Examine evidence hard drives and other media devices with FTK following chain-of-custody procedures for manual processing procedures.
Bob provide computer expertise for DOD criminal, fraud, and counterintelligence investigations and analyzing all computer evidence.

Forensic investigator vs forensic document examiner skills

Common forensic investigator skills

Incident Response, 17%
Windows, 12%
FTK, 11%
Litigation, 8%
Physical Evidence, 6%
Digital Evidence, 5%

Common forensic document examiner skills

Customer Service, 100%

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Forensic Investigator vs Forensic Document Examiner

Updated January 8, 2025

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