Is the FDL MEO anything like the shows on television (CSI, Crossing Jordan, etc.)?
While television shows about forensic investigation and Medical Examiners are often entertaining, they fall far short of reality. Medical Examiners are often portrayed as one-person, crime-solving units, with unlimited time to spend on a single case, and equipment that is not only ultra-state-of–the-art, but also contrary to the realities of science. In reality, forensic investigation is a professional collaboration of intelligent, well-trained, hard-working and dedicated people, including law enforcement detectives, crime scene technicians, death investigators, forensic pathologists, and, sometimes, numerous experts from the state crime laboratory (DNA technicians, trace evidence technicians, firearms experts, etc.). In reality, the MEO is involved in the active investigations of many cases at once, while accepting and beginning new case investigations each day. In reality, toxicology testing and DNA analysis takes weeks and months, not minutes and hours. In reality, the FDL MEO is no
