SURREY (NEWS 1130) — A CSI bloodstain specialist has given a glimpse into a job that most people only known from TV and movies.

RCMP Staff Sergeant Diane Cockle told NEWS 1130 there are a lot of misconceptions about what her forensic team does.

“People think of us as the little minions in the white Tyvek suits, but the time we spend at the crime scene can really generate a ton of evidence,” Cockle said.

As Team Commander, Cockle said people often think she interacts or interrogates the “bad guys,” but in fact her first look at a suspect is usually in the court room.

She said it is her team’s work leading up to that trail that can sometimes make or break a successful conviction as forensic evidence is increasingly important for investigators.

“We spend days at the scene, there is math and physics involved,” Cockle said. “The Keith Wiens trial, which was a number of years ago in Penticton, where the suspect was a retired Mountie. He shot his wife in the face and he staged a scene and the trail was almost 100 per cent based on blood stain pattern analysis.”

The 15-year veteran of the Lower Mainland RCMP spoke at a public forum at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey Wednesday evening.