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$29Career & Technical
BCSI | National Basic Crime Scene Investigator
An entry-level forensics credential with national law enforcement standards behind it.
Issued by LAPSEN
What it certifies
The National Basic Crime Scene Investigator credential certifies that a student can process a crime scene the way an entry-level technician is expected to: document what is there, collect evidence without compromising it, and understand the legal constraints that decide whether that evidence survives to trial.
It is endorsed by the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training, the body that sets training standards for law enforcement agencies nationwide. That endorsement is what makes it a genuine industry-recognized credential rather than a course completion certificate, and it is what lets districts count it toward Perkins reporting.
The exam is issued by LAPSEN and administered on the STACC platform, so ordering, proctoring, score reporting, and invoicing all run through the same system your school already uses for its other certifications.
The exam at a glance
89Questions
90 minTime limit
70Passing score
$29Per student
No age requirement. Available to secondary and post-secondary students.
What the exam covers
Twelve capstone competency areas, aligned to the LAPSEN Investigations and Forensics course standards:
- Introduction to investigations
- Legal and ethical issues
- Documenting the crime scene
- Evidence collection and types
- Interviews and interrogations
- Crimes against property
- Crimes against persons
- Criminology and crime analysis
- Serial crimes and criminal profiling
- Special investigations
- Trends in criminal investigations
- Careers in investigations
Recognition
The credential carries a national endorsement that districts can point to during Perkins reporting and program approval.
- Endorsed by the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST)
- Satisfies Perkins requirements for an Industry Recognized Credential
Who it's for
Pathway: Criminal Investigations & Forensics, or Forensic Science
Built for programs running a forensics or criminal investigations course, where students have spent a year on scene processing and evidence handling and need something to show for it. Forensic Science can count as either a science or a CTE credit depending on how your state has scheduled it.
Crime scene technicianEvidence technicianForensic laboratory assistant
Ordering and options
Certification exam
$29The certification exam on its own — ordered, proctored, scored, and reported through STACC.
Add a pretest — measure growth, not just outcomes
$21Every certification has a matching pretest: the same competencies, delivered before instruction begins. Programs use it to establish a baseline, target the units where students are weakest, and show measurable growth by comparing the pretest against the certification result at the end of the course. It is the cleanest way to evidence what a course actually taught.
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Program standards, instructor requirements, and course materials are published by LAPSEN.