You should describe in detail all of your training and experience on your application, to include both paid and volunteer work. Ensure that all sections of the application are completed, including employment eligibility status, veteran status, salary history, and criminal convictions. It is very important that you provide complete and detailed information about your qualifications so your application can be accurately evaluated.
To further describe your job duties and/or experience, you may attach a cover letter, resume, curriculum vitae, or other documents. Please note, however, that attaching a resume or CV does not substitute for a completed application.
To express your interest in an internship, please submit your request a minimum of one semester prior to the actual semester of interest by sending the following to the Laboratory Director at the lab of interest:
- Completing a state application (please visit jobs.virginia.gov, create an account and print the draft application as you cannot “submit” online) OR
- CV/resume AND
- A cover letter expressing your area of interest including project idea, current degree program, academic/professional letter of reference and the dates you are requesting to conduct your internship
- If you are seeking an internship for academic credit, provide information regarding your college’s requirements, expectations and contact information for the appropriate college representative
Once all required information has been received by the appropriate Laboratory Director, it will be screened to ensure the candidate meets the criteria (see qualifications tab above). If the request can be accommodated, the Laboratory Director will consult with others within the Department to identify a mentor and determine if your project idea aligns with the Department’s mission or if a suitable project is available.
Laboratory Director contact information:
Whenever possible the original documents, questioned and known, should be submitted.
Known samples must be comparable to the questioned material. Document examination is a comparative process and any known standards have to be the same type of writing as the questioned. If the questioned material is hand printed (disconnected letters), the known should also be hand printed. If the questioned is handwritten (connected, cursive), the known material should likewise be handwritten. In short, the known material should contain the same characters and character combinations as the questioned.
The source of the known writing must be provable and it must be admissible in a court of law.
Call the laboratory and talk to a Questioned Document Examiner. Currently, all areas of the state are serviced by Document Examiners from the Western Laboratory (540) 561-6600.
In a word, “YES”. Original handwritten documents are always the best evidence but in some cases the original has been lost or destroyed and the only evidence is a photocopy.
The lab can also examine photocopied documents in an effort to identify the source machine used to produce them.
The quality or quantity of the questioned material may be such that no conclusion could be rendered.
There may be so little comparability between the known and the questioned that an examination could not be performed.
Outside influences (drugs, illness, disguise, etc. ) may have affected the handwriting to the degree that no examination could be performed.
The Certificate of Analysis will normally include explanations of any significant limiting factors encountered during the examination.
Many laboratory examinations can degrade or destroy document evidence. For example, the chemical processing for latent prints may cause the ink to run or to disappear completely. It also destroys any indented writings and may negatively affect other potential examinations. Incoming cases are screened for their potential for future Questioned Document examinations and those cases are routed to the Questioned Document Section. At a minimum the questioned documents are photographed and, if appropriate, some examinations may be conducted. Any tests or examinations that are conducted are non-destructive and will have absolutely no adverse effects on any subsequent examination for latent prints.
Most web-browsers and web-based applications, record a user’s activity – logging what Internet resources were accessed. Even when a user attempts to delete this information, the browsing activity can often be recovered. If the data hasn’t been overwritten, the exact time, resource and content of the activity may be available.
Please contact the Digital & Multimedia Evidence section for additional information.
Depending on the device’s capabilities and settings, Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates and available/connected WiFi access point identifiers may be present. This information can be extracted and interpreted to determine locations the device was near.
Please contact the Digital & Multimedia Evidence section for additional information.
The ability to recover deleted text messages depends on the make and model of the mobile phone, the length of time that has passed since the messages were deleted, the number of new text messages that have been sent or received since the messages were deleted, whether the deleted messages have been overwritten, and if phone has been reset or restored.
Please contact the Digital & Multimedia Evidence section for additional information.
