What's a cost effective way to solve cases without paying overtime, benefits, sick or vacation time, time away from the station for outside training and not have to pay for long waits in court to finally testify? Hire a qualified forensic professional, C.L.E.T.S certified, International Certified Fingerprint Examiner, with years of experience and all the necessary insurance coverage to protect your agency and the contractor. Recommended insurance a professional forensic contractor must have- Professional Forensic Liability, General Liability, Workers Compensation and Auto.
In the new era of law enforcement and political DA's Offices, it's hard to hire a new candidate who actually knows how to process a crime scene, how to document, collect and preserve evidence properly and competently examine latent prints collected from the crime scene. I understand it's shaky ground to hire someone from the outside (an independent forensic contractor) but sometimes your choices are limited- wait years to months for the new hire to achieve competency, send your cases to a State or County agency and wait years to months for your forensic results OR hire a professional forensic contractor an get results within 24 hours to weeks without the hassle of hiring a new employee with little experience.
An agency should background check, live scan and investigate who represents your agency whether you hire an employee or a contractor. That's just common sense!