Maintaining and Improving Officers’ CSI Skills: On-the-Job Recommendations for Skill Improvement

There is ample literature on effective ways to train police officer recruits while in the academy. However, there is less research on effective ways to train police officers who are on the job; therefore, less information is available for agencies to use to assist officers in developing and improving their skills. This is particularly troubling for police officers who act as crime scene investigators (CSIs), collecting and processing forensic evidence from crime scenes. Police officers who serve as CSIs require a high level of skill since their work informs criminal investigations and the outcomes can affect justice and community safety. Additionally, CSIs must be able to defend their actions in court and articulate the reasons why one action was completed over another when collecting or processing crime scene evidence.