Criminalist II

About the role

Criminalist II positions perform complex chemical, biological, and physical analyses on narcotics, firearms, organic material, and other evidence involved in police investigations; conduct crime scene reconstructions; prepare evidence for presentation in court; testify as an expert witness; and perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Citizenship: You must be a United States citizen or have the current legal right to work in the United States.
• Education: A Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college/university in Criminalistics, Forensic Science, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Biology, Microbiology, Digital Forensics, Computer Forensics, Computer Science, or a closely related physical or biological science.
• Coursework: Completion of the following college-level coursework:
  • 8 semester/12 quarter college-level units in general chemistry.
  • 3 semester/4 quarter college-level units in organic chemistry or biochemistry.
• Experience: Two years of full-time professional Criminalistics experience in ONE or more of the following areas:
  • Blood Alcohol Analysis
  • Computer Forensics
  • Crime Scene Reconstruction
  • Digital Forensics
  • Firearms Identification
  • Forensic Biology
  • Narcotic Analysis
  • Toxicological Analysis
  • Trace Evidence Analysis
• License: A valid California Class C Driver License is required at the time of hire.

Qualifications

• Foreign degrees are acceptable if they have been evaluated and deemed to be equivalent to degrees from accredited institutions in the United States.
• A Master's Degree in Criminalistics or Forensic Science may be substituted for a MAXIMUM of one year of the required experience. However, a Master's Degree in Criminalistics or Forensic Science without a qualifying Bachelor's Degree is NOT qualifying.
• Experience performing comparative analysis of handwriting or latent prints ONLY is NOT considered qualifying.
• Additional qualifying experience may NOT be used to substitute for lack of the required education.
• City of San Diego employees using Out-of-Class Assignment (OCA) experience to qualify must submit written documentation signed by their appointing authority or payroll specialist, detailing the work performed, dates, and total number of qualifying OCA hours. OCA experience without the required documentation will NOT be considered.

Pay

Employees in job classifications represented by Municipal Employees Association (MEA) are scheduled to receive the following general wage increases: 3.5% effective 7/1/27, 2% effective 7/1/28, 2% effective 1/1/29.

Benefits

Eligible benefitted employees originally hired on or after July 10, 2021, will be automatically enrolled in the San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS).