CJK0079 – Crime Scene Follow-up Investigations is a 34-hour course within Florida's 770-hour Law Enforcement Basic Recruit Training Program, carrying zero credit hours as a clock-hour academy component.
The course covers what happens after the initial response: the systematic processing of a crime scene and the investigative work that follows. Recruits learn scene documentation through notes, photography, sketching, and measurement; systematic search methods; the identification, collection, packaging, and preservation of physical evidence; and the chain of custody that makes evidence admissible.
Evidence types get specific treatment — latent fingerprints, biological evidence and DNA, trace evidence, impression evidence including footwear and tire marks, firearms and toolmarks, digital evidence, and documents. For each, recruits learn what it can establish, how it is destroyed by mishandling, and what the officer's role is versus the crime scene technician's.
The follow-up half covers investigative method: developing and pursuing leads, canvassing, witness identification procedures including photo arrays and lineups, informant handling, surveillance basics, case file management, and preparation of the case for the State Attorney.
Eyewitness identification receives particular attention. Mistaken identification is the leading contributing factor in wrongful convictions, and Florida enacted eyewitness identification reform requiring specific procedures — independent administrators, appropriate instructions to witnesses, and documentation of confidence statements. The course teaches these as legal requirements, not best practices.
The course is offered at approximately 20 Florida institutions, all of them state colleges operating criminal justice training centers or regional public safety academies: Chipola, College of Central Florida, College of the Florida Keys, Daytona State, Eastern Florida State, Florida Gateway, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Gulf Coast State, Hillsborough, Indian River State, Miami Dade, North Florida, Northwest Florida State, Palm Beach State, Pasco-Hernando, Pensacola State, Santa Fe, South Florida State, St. Johns River, and Seminole State.
The Law Enforcement Basic Recruit Training Program (LEBRTP) is a 770-hour academy required for certification as a sworn law enforcement officer under Chapter 943, Florida Statutes. The curriculum is written and maintained by the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission (CJSTC) through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, so content is consistent statewide. The full sequence:
Every component is a clock-hour course carrying zero credit hours, and none counts toward an associate degree.
Completing this course does not certify anyone. Recruits must finish the full 770-hour academy, pass the State Officer Certification Examination (SOCE), and satisfy the employment and background requirements of Chapter 943, F.S. Certification is granted by CJSTC, not by the college, and an officer must also be employed by an agency to be certified.
Requirements attach to the academy rather than to this individual course: minimum age 19, U.S. citizenship, high school diploma or equivalent, no felony convictions or disqualifying misdemeanors, a background investigation, a physical examination and drug screening, and a passing score on the Florida Basic Abilities Test (CJBAT). Requirements are set in statute and by the training center.
Academy training is PSAV clock-hour instruction, not college credit, and does not transfer as general education. Many Florida colleges award block credit toward an A.S. in Criminal Justice Technology for full academy completion plus certification, under local articulation agreements rather than statewide SCNS equivalency. Confirm terms with the receiving institution.
Officers already certified in another discipline — corrections to law enforcement, for instance — complete abbreviated crossover programs drawing on a subset of these courses rather than the full academy. Candidates should work from the crossover curriculum published by their training center.
This deserves emphasis because it is unusual. Florida codified eyewitness identification procedures in Section 92.70, Florida Statutes — requiring, among other things, that a photo array or lineup be administered by someone who does not know the suspect's identity where practicable, that the witness be instructed that the perpetrator may not be present, and that the witness's confidence statement be documented at the time. These are legal obligations, and failure to follow them is grounds to challenge the identification. The reform followed decades of research establishing mistaken eyewitness identification as the single largest contributing factor in DNA exonerations.
Practice varies by agency size. Large Florida agencies deploy dedicated crime scene units for serious offenses; smaller agencies expect patrol officers to process their own scenes, including burglaries and vehicle burglaries. The course prepares recruits for the latter and teaches them to recognize when a scene exceeds their training and requires specialists. Knowing when to stop and call is itself a competency.
Instructors generally spend time correcting expectations formed by television. Laboratory analysis takes weeks or months rather than hours, many samples yield nothing usable, DNA can establish presence but rarely timing or circumstance, and the FDLE laboratory system operates under significant backlog. Recruits who understand what forensic evidence can and cannot establish make better decisions about what to collect and what to tell victims about likely outcomes.
Generated August 31, 2026 · Updated August 31, 2026