Crime Scene Investigation introduces forensic science fundamentals for the non-scientist, covering the role of the forensic scientist within the criminal justice system and the capabilities and limitations of the modern crime laboratory. Its central emphasis is proper evidence handling at the scene — and Daytona State's description states the reason plainly: if an investigator cannot recognize, collect, and package evidence properly, no amount of equipment or expertise in the laboratory will salvage the situation.
Within the SCNS taxonomy, CJE is the Criminal Justice: Enforcement prefix. This course sits in the first or second year of an A.A. or A.S. in criminal justice, alongside CJE2600 Criminal Investigation, which this repository also carries. Daytona State publishes it at 3 credits, offered fall and spring. It appears at approximately three Florida institutions.
The distinction from a forensic survey course is that this one is about doing — recognizing, documenting, collecting, packaging, and preserving physical evidence at a scene. It is the practical half, and it is the half that determines whether the laboratory has anything worth analyzing.
Florida course inventories carry this number as CJE1670C "Crime Scene Procedures." Daytona State publishes CJE1670 "Crime Scene Investigation" — without the C. The 60 contact hours reported here follows the integrated lecture-and-laboratory convention for the C-suffixed form; a lecture-only section would run closer to 45. SCNS equivalency does not cross numbers, and the suffix is part of the number — confirm the value on your own institution's catalog page, and confirm whether your section includes practical scene processing, which is what makes the course worth taking.
The organizing principle of the course, and it is worth stating as starkly as Daytona State's description does. A crime scene is consumed by processing it. Evidence not recognized is not collected; evidence collected badly is degraded or excluded; a scene released cannot be re-secured with the same legal standing.
The practical implications:
Current DNA methods are extremely sensitive, which is a benefit and a liability. The investigator's own DNA transferred to an item is a documented and recurring problem, and so is transfer between items handled with the same gloves.
The controls are specific: change gloves between items, not just between scenes; use single-use or decontaminated tools; mask and avoid speaking over evidence, since respiratory droplets carry DNA; and package biological evidence dry and breathable — paper bags and envelopes, never plastic, because moisture promotes bacterial degradation that destroys the sample.
The related concept students should understand is secondary transfer: DNA can move from person to object to object without the person ever contacting the second item. That makes a DNA result a piece of evidence to be interpreted in context rather than a conclusion, and it is precisely why scene documentation and packaging discipline matter for the interpretation as well as for the analysis.
Constitutional constraints apply and getting them wrong suppresses evidence. There is no general "crime scene exception" to the warrant requirement — the Supreme Court rejected a murder-scene exception in Mincey v. Arizona. Lawful warrantless entry rests on specific grounds: consent, exigent circumstances (rendering aid or preventing imminent destruction of evidence), and the plain view doctrine for items observed from a place the officer is lawfully present.
The practical rule for an investigator: once the emergency ends, get a warrant. The temptation is to continue processing because the scene is already secured and the officers are already inside; that is the mistake the case law addresses. Document the basis and time of every entry.
The same clarification this repository makes for the CCJ forensic survey, and it belongs here too because this course feels more like laboratory work than it is.
Crime scene investigation and crime laboratory analysis are different careers. Scene work is generally accessible from a criminal justice background and is frequently performed by sworn officers or by civilian technicians hired by a police agency. Laboratory analyst positions — DNA, toxicology, drug chemistry, trace — generally require a bachelor's degree in a natural science, and DNA analyst roles carry federally specified coursework requirements that a laboratory cannot waive.
A student who wants the laboratory should add or change to a science major now. A student who wants scene work should pursue this pathway, seek an agency internship, and look at IAI certification — and should know that scene positions are competitive and that many agencies fill them from within, which is an argument for entering the agency in another role first.
Three categories worth stating. Biohazard — blood and body fluids carry bloodborne pathogens; PPE, sharps awareness (needles hidden in furniture and pockets are a recognized hazard), and knowing the post-exposure protocol are basic. Environmental and chemical — clandestine drug laboratories, fentanyl and other potent substances, unstable structures, and fire scenes each carry specific hazards, and current guidance on fentanyl exposure risk has been substantially revised, so verify against current agency protocol rather than early reporting. Psychological — scene investigators encounter death, including deaths of children, repeatedly, and cumulative exposure is a documented occupational risk in this work. Agencies increasingly provide peer support and employee assistance; using them is professional practice, not weakness. Students should know this before choosing the career rather than after.
This course appears at roughly three institutions statewide, which is a small base. Content, credit value, and emphasis vary more than they would for a widely taught course, and one of the three may be a private institution rather than a Florida public college. Read your own institution's catalog description and syllabus rather than assuming this guide describes your section exactly, and have any transfer evaluated in writing.
Daytona State publishes CJE1670 at 3 credits, offered fall and spring. The 60 contact hours follows the C-suffixed integrated convention carried in Florida inventories; note that this repository's CJE2600 is 3 credits / 45 hours as a lecture course. Confirm on your syllabus.
The valuable version of this course includes mock scene processing — a staged scene that students secure, document, and process end to end, producing photographs, a sketch, packaged evidence, and a report. That assignment is the course. Written work — particularly the report — carries more weight than students expect, and for a real reason: an investigation that cannot be explained clearly in writing does not survive cross-examination.
The first digit of an SCNS number denotes the year of offering, not transferability. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 levels transfer transparently between Florida public institutions, and 3000 to 4000 is unproblematic since both are upper division. The boundary that actually matters is 2000 to 3000, where lower-division credit generally cannot satisfy an upper-division requirement.
CJE1670C transfers as lower-division credit and typically counts as a criminal justice requirement or elective. Note that A.A. and A.S. criminal justice degrees transfer differently — the A.A. carries the guaranteed junior-status pathway into the state university system, while the A.S. is applied. Students planning a bachelor's, and particularly those considering a science degree for laboratory work, should raise that with an advisor early.
Generated September 2, 2026 · Updated September 2, 2026