Firearm & Toolmark Examiner
Applications Due: March 21, 2025
Founded in 1968 and now known as the Northeastern Illinois Regional Crime Laboratory (NIRCL), the laboratory provides forensic services to 61-member law enforcement agencies which govern and fund its operations. The lab is organized as an intergovernmental cooperative in which the Executive Director of the lab reports to an Executive Board consisting of five police chiefs elected by the general membership. Now located in a newly designed facility in Mundelein (38 miles from Chicago) the NIRCL provides forensic services for suburbs and collar communities of the greater Chicagoland area, serving a population of over 1.6 million citizens.
The mission of the laboratory is to provide accurate, objective and timely forensic services. The NIRCL employs 15 forensic scientists to meet the mission’s objectives. The NIRCL prides itself on providing high quality forensic analyses and outstanding customer service to its member agencies.
First accredited in 1997, the NIRCL is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025:2017 international standards by the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) to provide services in DNA, Latent Prints, Firearms/Toolmarks, Controlled Substances and Toxicology.
The Firearm & Toolmark section of the laboratory provides:
- · Functional examination of firearms and their components.
- · Microscopic comparisons of firearm and toolmark related evidence and standards.
- · Serial number restorations.
- · Muzzle to target distance proximity testing.
- · Fracture match comparisons.
- · National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) entries.
- · Digital photography of evidence and microscopic comparison results.
The section is staffed by three outstanding and very collaborative scientists (3 FTE) with a variety of backgrounds who complete 2,000 Firearm requests per year.
Minimum Qualifications:
- • Two or more years of experience as a forensic scientist in an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory. At least one year of experience must be as a qualified case working analyst/examiner.
- • A bachelor’s degree in biology-, chemistry-, or a forensic science-related area.
- • Must have the ability to visually distinguish color, shape, and sizes.
- • Satisfactorily completed proficiency testing to ISO 17025 standards.
Preferred Additional Qualifications:
- • Training equivalent to the Association of Firearms and Tool Mark Examiner’s (AFTE) Training Manual, or the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms National Firearms and Toolmark Examiner Academy (NFEA), or similar training.
- • Certification in the specialty area of Firearms and Tool Marks.
- • Application and use of virtual comparative microscopy on related equipment.
Knowledge of:
- • ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Accreditation Standards
- • Principles of quality assurance
- • Laboratory health and safety procedures.
Skill(s) in:
- • Organization of duties and assignments.
- • Responsive reporting to management
- • Effective communication, orally, written and involving groups
- • Effectively completing assignments with little or no oversight
- • Assisting with the implementation of effective process improvements
- • Demonstrated knowledge of Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS).
- • Demonstrated knowledge of federal, state and municipal laws governing rules of evidence, and courtroom procedures.
Ability to:
- • Present scientific information clearly and accurately and when necessary, in lay terms
- • Prepare clear and concise reports of findings
- • Provide effective technical and administrative reviews of the work of others
- • Readily adapt to new working environments
Benefits:
- • A very competitive salary based on experience, professional growth and merit
- • Subsidized health and dental benefits (NIRCL pays for 90% of benefits for a single employee),
- • A 401(k) Retirement plan (if the employee contributes 4% of their salary, the NIRCL will contribute an amount equal to 10% of their salary)
- • A 401(h) Retirement Health Savings/Reimbursement Plan ($400 contributed by employee per year and $800 contributed by employer per year.)
- • 10 paid holidays per year,
- • Paid vacation that starts accruing at 10 hrs/mo (3 wks/yr),
- • Paid sick time that accrues at 8 hrs/mo,
- • The option of flexing your schedule during the work week
- • The option of accruing up to 40 hrs of flex leave time to be used before April 30 each year and,
- • $50,000 life insurance policy.
Application Instructions:
Please only apply if you meet all minimum requirements.
Please complete the NIRCL application posted at http://nircl.org/employment.html
Before 5:00pm Central Time on March 21, 2025, please submit the following materials:
- · a completed NIRCL application,
- · a Curriculum vitae,
- · college transcripts and
To: Phil Kinsey
905 E. Orchard St.
Mundelein, IL 60060
or pkinsey@nircl.org
If you have any questions, please feel free to call Phil Kinsey at (406) 493-8083.
