Crime Scene Requirements

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Crime Scene Certification Requirements

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REQUIREMENTS FOR CRIME SCENE CERTIFICATION

A. General Qualifications

  1. An applicant for certification must be of good moral character, high integrity, and good repute and must possess high ethical professional standing.
  2. An applicant must be employed full time in an occupation that includes crime scene related activities.
    • "Crime scene related activities" is understood to mean responding to crime scenes, and having a significant role in locating, documenting, recovering and analyzing physical evidence.
    • Processing or enhancing physical evidence solely in a laboratory or evidence warehouse environment does not meet this description.
    • "Crime scene related activities" will normally be conducted by personnel employed by law enforcement agencies, but may occasionallybe performed by non-government personnel acting in an adjunct or advisory role.

B. Certifications

Applicants may apply for any certification where the applicant meets the requirements as listed below. It should be noted that for initial certification, hours will be used to calculate the figures, and credits used to calculate the recertification figures.

  1. Certified Crime Scene Investigator
    • Must have a minimum of one (1) year in crime scene related activities.
    • Must have completed a minimum of 48 hours of Crime Scene Certification Board approved instruction in crime scene related courses within the last five (5) years.
  2. Certified Crime Scene Analyst
    • Must have a minimum of three (3) years in crime scene related activities.
    • Must have completed a minimum of 96 hours of Crime Scene Certification Board approved instruction in crime scene related courses within the last five (5) years.
  4. Certified Senior Crime Scene Analyst
    • Must have a minimum of six (6) years in crime scene related activities.
    • Must have completed a minimum of 144 hours of Crime Scene Certification Board approved instruction in crime scene related courses within the last five (5) years. AND one of the following:
                            - Must have authored or coauthored an article on some phase of crime scene investigation published in a professional journal OR;
                            - Made a presentation on some phase of crime scene investigation to a professional organization, OR;
                            - Be an active instructor in some phase of crime scene investigation who is currently teaching at least once a year, OR;
                            - Completed 16 hours of Courtroom Testimony training in addition to the required 144 hours of crime scene related training (listed above).

C. Initial In-house Training

Upon approval by the Crime Scene Certification Board, an agency's structured training program hours may be reciprocated for portions of or for the amount of required hours of instruction for the appropriate crime scene certification.

D. Continuing Education/Professional Development Hours

The topics that qualify in the area of crime scene approved training are as listed below. The Crime Scene Certification Board, on request, will consider other topics:

Alternate Light Source Training
Arson Investigations
Blood Pattern Analysis
Clandestine Lab Training
Collection & Preservation of Evidence
Courtroom Testimony
Crime Scene Documentation
Crime Scene Investigations
Crime Scene Photography
Crime Scene Reconstruction
Death Investigations
Evidence Photography

Footwear and Tire Tread
Forensic Anthropology
Forensic Archeology
Forensic Odontology
Latent Print Detection
Post Blast Investigations
Report Writing
Rules of Evidence
Sex Crime Investigations
Traffic Accident Investigations
Underwater/Subsurface search and recovery
Wound Dynamics

Online training policy for Cerification/Recertifcation; Read Here
Please note: Certification exam book review courses do not count towards the number of required hours for the various crime scene certification programs.
College and university curriculum courses are not accepted for certification/recertification purposes.
LATENT FINGERPRINT COMPARISON/EVALUATION, AFIS, ALPS, AND 10-PRINT CLASSES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AS CREDIT TOWARD CRIME SCENE CERTIFICATION. ASCLD - LAB ASSESSOR TRAINING IS ALSO NOT ACCEPTABLE.

E. Testing 

In addition to the listed requirements for each level the applicant must successfully pass a written test with a minimum score of 75%. All written tests are graded and recorded on a pass/fail basis only. (Numerical scores are not provided)
  1. The tests will be taken from publications selected by the Crime Scene Certification Board. The titles will be published and the Board may not change them for a minimum of three (3) years.
  2. These texts supersede any practice or agency directives for certification testing purposes.
  3. Questions and time
    • CCSI: 200 questions with a time limit of 3 hours
    • CCSA: 300 questions with a time limit of 4 hours
    • CSCSA: 400 questions with a time limit of 5 hours
  4. All crime scene certification tests are proctored.
  5. Throughout the comprehensive written testing process you may not have/use any supporting/reference material/textbooks or have internet access.

I. TEST MATERIAL PUBLICATIONS

  1. Certified Crime Scene Investigator (CCSI)
    • Crime Scene Photography, 3rd Edition, by Edward Robinson, 2016, Academic Press- Elsevier, Inc. (All Chapters EXCEPT 1, and 8 thru 12)
    • Practical Crime Scene Processing and Investigation, 2nd edition by Ross M. Gardner, 2012, CRC Press
  2. Certified Crime Scene Analyst (CCSA)
    • Crime Scene Photography, 3rd Edition, by Edward Robinson, 2016, Academic Press- Elsevier, Inc. (All Chapters EXCEPT 1, Subchapters 9.4, 9.6 and 9.7, and Chapters 10 thru 12)
    • Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation, 8th edition by Fisher, Barry and Fisher, David, 2012, CRC Press
  3. Certified Senior Crime Scene Analyst (CSCSA)
    • Crime Scene Photography, 3rd Edition, by Edward Robinson, 2016, Academic Press- Elsevier, Inc. (All Chapters EXCEPT 1, Subchapters 9.4, 9.6 and 9.7, and Pages 712-735)
    • Effective Expert Witnessing: Practices for the 21st Century, 5th ed. By Matson, Jack V., 2013, CRC Press (All chapters EXCEPT 8 and 9)
    • Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific and Investigative Techniques, 4th edition by James, Stuart H., Nordby, Jon J., and Bell, Suzanne, 2013, CRC Press

II. APPLICATION PROCEDURES

  1. All applicants for certification must submit two letters of endorsement. Endorsements are required from the applicants employer/supervisor and/or persons who have knowledge of the applicants experience as a practitioner in the discipline for which they applied.
  2. The completed application, with supporting documentation to include the application fee of $300.00 (not refundable) for IAI members or $400.00 (not refundable) for non-members, shall be completed on-line.
  3. Crime Scene Certification shall be issued for a period of five (5) years.
  4. Applicant procedures for certification are subject to revision by the Crime Scene Certification Board (CSCB). The latest official version is always available on-line or from the CSCB Secretary.

III. GENERAL PROVISIONS CONCERNING CERTIFICATION

  1. The right to deny certification is reserved.
    • Applicants who are denied certification by the CSCB may appeal such action in writing within sixty (60) days after the issue date of such notification.
  2. Certificates granted and issued may be suspended or revoked by the CSCB for any of the following reasons:
    • A conviction of an applicant for certification, or holder of a certificate, by a court of competent jurisdiction of a felony or any crime involving moral turpitude.
    • A misstatement, misrepresentation, concealment, or omission of a material fact or facts in an application or any other communication related to certification.
    • Issuance of a certificate contrary to or in violation of any of the laws, standards, rules or regulations of the IAI, or determination that the person certified was not in fact eligible to receive such certificate at the time of issuance.
    • Any violation of the IAI Code of Ethics.
  3. Action to suspend or revoke may only be taken after at least thirty (30) days advance notice of the charges or reasons for such action has been given to the individual concerned and an opportunity for such person to be heard has been provided by the CSCB.
  4. Persons holding a valid certificate of qualifications issued by the CSCB are entitled to use the appropriate designations in conformance with the standards of the International Association for Identification.
  5. Certificates issued by the International Association for Identification are non-transferable. They remain the property of the IAI, but every person to whom a certificate has been issued shall be entitled to its continued possession, unless and until such certificate is revoked.
  6. Membership in the IAI or any of its state or regional divisions is not mandatory for certification, however, the candidate for certification must agree to abide by the provisions of the certification program as written and passed by the IAI.