Program Overview

Program Overview

The Public Safety and Security: Crime Scene Investigation program is offered by the College of Applied Studies at Florida State University. This program provides students with a comprehensive education in crime scene investigation, forensic science, and public safety, preparing them for careers in local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as private crime laboratories.

Description of Major

A degree in Public Safety and Security: Crime Scene Investigation offers a variety of employment opportunities in local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, and public and private crime labs. Career prospects in the field include crime scene investigator, crime scene analyst, forensic science technician, crime laboratory assistant, autopsy technician, death investigator, property and evidence personnel, and criminalist.

Admission Requirements

To be admitted to the Crime Scene Investigation major, students must meet the University-wide baccalaureate degree requirements. Additionally, students must:

• Have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale
• Complete an AA degree from a Florida public college with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale
• Transfer students from a regionally accredited postsecondary institution must have sixty or more semester hours of transferable credit, to include six hours of freshman English composition and six hours of mathematics/statistics, with a minimum of a 2.00 GPA
• Current students at FSU must have fifty-two or more semester hours of credit, to include six hours of freshman English composition and six hours of mathematics/statistics, with a minimum of a 2.00 GPA

Program Requirements

The program requires a total of 120 hours, including:

• General Education: 36 hours
• Major Coursework: 66 hours
• Minor Coursework: 0 hours
• Digital Literacy: 3 hours
• Oral Communication Competency: 0-3 hours
• Other Coursework: 0 hours
• Electives: sufficient to bring total hours to 120

Core Courses

Students must earn a "C minus" or better in each of the following core courses:

• CCJ 3024: The Criminal Justice System
• CJE 3762: Forensic Science in Investigation
• CJE 3762L: Forensic Science in Investigation Lab
• CCJ 4744: Evidential Reasoning for Research & Investigation
• CCJ 3071: Computer Applications in Criminal Justice

Major Required Courses

Students must earn a "C minus" or better in each of the following major required courses:

• CJE 4611: Criminal Investigation: Theory & Practice
• CJE 4615: Conduct of Investigation
• CJE 4655: Crime & Accident Scene Imaging & Reconstruction
• CJE 4655L: Crime & Accident Scene Imaging & Reconstruction Lab
• CJE 4135: Impression and Pattern Evidence
• CJE 4135L: Impression and Pattern Evidence Lab
• CJE 4241: Trace & Digital Evidence
• CJE 4241L: Trace & Digital Evidence Lab
• CJE 3648: Crime Scene Professionalism
• CJE 4638: Forensic Death Investigation
• CJE 4638L: Forensic Death Investigation Lab

Additional Required PSS Elective Courses

Students must earn a "C minus" or better in each of the following additional required PSS elective courses:

• CCJ 4710: Applied Probability for Research & Investigation
• CCJ 3678: Policing Diversity: Race, Gender, Religion and Crime
• CJE 3612: Interview and Interrogation
• CJC 3311: Corrections: Practices and Perspectives
• CJJ 3013: Youth Culture and Crime
• CCJ 3651: Drugs and Crime
• CJE 4410: Community Policing
• CCJ 3032: Crime in Media
• CCJ 3484: Ethics in Policing and Intelligence
• CJE 4220: Introduction to Forensic Entomology
• CJE 3652: Forensic Science in the Crime Lab
• CJE 3652L: Lab for Forensic Science in the Crime Lab
• CJE 3703: Black and White: Disparities in the Criminal Justice System
• CJE 3450: Bias Awareness in Public Safety and Security
• CJE 3280: Women on all Sides of the Law
• CJE 4764: Underwater Crime Scene Methodology
• CJE 4765: Underwater Crime Scene Investigation
• CJE 3617: Cold Case Investigations

Capstone

• CJE 4710: Capstone (3-15 hours), offered every semester, typically taken in the last semester of the program

Digital Literacy

• Met with a final grade of C minus or better in CCJ 3071: Computer Applications in Criminal Justice

Oral Communication Competency Requirement

• Met with a grade of C minus or better in CJE 3612: Interview and Interrogation or SPC 1608: Public Speaking (GCSC)

Foreign Language Requirement

• Can be satisfied by having two sequential units of the same foreign language in high school, or two semesters of the same foreign language in college, or documented equivalent proficiency

Employment Information

• Salary information: available from the National Association of Colleges and Employers or the Occupational Outlook Handbook provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Representative job titles: crime scene investigator, crime scene analyst, forensic science technician, crime laboratory assistant, autopsy technician, death investigator, property and evidence personnel, and criminalist
• Representative employers: local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as governmental and private crime laboratories