Bermuda's first home-grown forensic scientist will soon be gaining first-hand experience on the streets of New York.

And when she returns to her Island home, Desiree Allen will be applying the skills and expertise she will have gained at the Chief Medical Examiner's office in the city.

After two years in the US, Dr. Allen will become a fully-fledged Government analyst -- the first ever in the Health Department's central laboratory.

It will mean Bermuda has a wider range of knowledge and talent to call on -- enabling the Island to do more forensic work in-house and rely less and less on outside agencies.

The 28-year-old from Southampton will be concentrating on toxicology and chemistry, but expects the variety of cases handled in New York will give her a thorough grounding in the science.

Forensics first Police to help gather evidence and investigate crime scenes where people have been hurt or killed.

So Dr. Allen is expecting some first-hand experience of the mean streets, but says much of her work will be lab-based.

"Everybody thinks it is going to be gruesome,'' she told The Royal Gazette .

"I think that is a perception of criminology. But it is not like that on a day-to-day basis.

"I will be doing bench work, although I have been to a couple of crime scenes and have attended several autopsies.

"We need someone that is trained in crime scenes as well as toxicology work, chemistry and we do a lot of drug testing. We are trying to look at DNA -- some things can be done here but the rest get sent abroad.'' Getting to work cannot come too soon for Dr. Allen, who has spent ten years studying for her qualification.

After gaining a degree in zoology in Alabama, she completed a post-graduate diploma in forensic science at Strathclyde University in Scotland and finally her doctorate in forensic medicine and science at Glasgow University.

Now she has returned home, and will complete the two-year internship as a trainee Government analyst in New York and Canada, before taking over from current analyst Kevin Leask in 2001.

In addition, two other Bermudian women are training to be forensic scientists, and it is anticipated that they will also take up positions on the Island.