I hope this helps.:)

There are a few different paths to becoming a crime scene investigator. The first thing you need to find out is whether the crime scene investigation unit at department you want to work for is made up of police officers or civilians. If the CSIs are police officers, you obvously have to become a police officer first. This entails meeting any educational requirements your chosen department might have (some departments require you to have a bachelor’s degree before you can apply, but your degree can be in anything), going through the police academy, and doing two or three years of road time before applying for a transfer to crime scene because it’s a specialized unit.

If the CSIs are civilians, you may not need a degree. Photography skills are good to have, because the job of a crime scene investigator is to document, preserve, and collect evidence for analysis. (It isn’t like CSI, the TV show: you don’t arrest people or do lab work.) Part of the documentation of that evidence is taking photographs and you need the skills to take consistently good pictures in low light, tight quarters, and bad weather.

Now if you want to work in the crime lab, which is different from being a crime scene investigator, you need a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a physical science–chemistry, physics, or biology. Some universities have a combined “forensic science” degree which is based in chemistry and widely accepted.

It may be tough to get a tour of your local police or sheriff’s department crime lab, but many crime scene units will let you ride along with them for a shift so you can get an idea of what they do in a day. Call a department you might be interested in working for as a CSI and ask about the possibility of a ride along. Good luck to you.