Police forensic photographer

Nigel Fookes turned his interest in 35mm photography into a job with the police force.

Name: Nigel Fookes
Age: 44
Job title: Police forensic photographer
Working hours: 8am - 4pm but on call seven days
Employer: Police; ESR
Pay: $55,000 to $75,000
Qualifications needed: Trained police officer who has completed in-service photography course
Career prospects: Senior police photographer

Describe your job.

Our main job is to support the gathering of evidence. You can show a scene far better than anybody can describe it. You only get one chance to explain something to a jury or a judge so you have to present it the best way possible. We photograph anything from a small bag of methamphetamine to a homicide scene to streets from the air.

What happens during a normal day?

When I arrive at work usually a number of things have happened over night. All those jobs are gathered at Police Communications and sent to us in the morning. You sort out logistically what's the best job to attend first, taking into account whether there is a time constraint and how far the job is away from the station. It might be anything from an arson to a recovered stolen car.

There are set ways of taking certain things. Perspective is important - where was the photograph taken from, was it a wide-angled lens or a zoom lens? If you are using a particular lens you can alter how things look in relation to each other.

When we get our photographs back from the lab we sort them out and send them to the officers in charge of the relevant cases.

Why did you choose this job?

I was interested in photography. I had a 35mm SLR of my own and I enjoy anything technical. I enjoy pulling things apart and putting systems together. Within photography section we have a lot of computers and video gear as well as our cameras and they all require servicing. There is a lot of problem-solving - how to get the best out of an image - and we're doing more computer work. We take still images off surveillance footage of armed robberies or petrol station drive offs. It's not like CSI. If you've got rubbish at the start it stays rubbish. You can't extract anything from it.

What's the best part of the job?

Variety. You never know what is going to happen next. That can also be the bane of your existence, too, particularly at 2am when you are called out to another fatal motor accident. But you go places and see things that few other people do. The worst part physically can just be the mundane work; emotionally it might be something traumatic. We have compulsory psychological counselling every three months. There are four of us in the office here and we're lucky, a lot of our debriefing is done informally, unknowingly. We just natter about things.

What are your strengths?

Pulling things apart. Fixing computer problems. The Scottish blood in me says nothing is broken unless it gets past me first. I'll fix most things. Keeping up to speed with the computer industry is a challenge, especially as we go more and more digital. We're loading more stuff onto computers; we'll be presenting our stuff [in court] via video. All of these new disciplines are opening up to us.

What are the essential qualities of a police photographer?

Be technically proficient and love photography. An ordinary police officer might attend several deaths a year whereas we might attend several a month. You've got to be able to switch off or put your own mind at rest.

What's your job-hunting advice?

You've got to be a police officer first. You'd be ill advised to join the police just to become a police photographer. There are only a small number of vacancies [40 photographers nationwide] and it's not everybody's cup of tea because there is no artistic licence allowed.

Most people like to experiment with photography and we can't really do that. And when you join the police you've got to spend a fair amount of time on the street before you can go into any specialist area. When you join the photographic section you do a four-week course at Police College, you sit units and to be fully qualified takes five years. They are looking at a diploma that could potentially be used around the world.