To: The NC Division of the IAI Membership

From: NCIAI Regional Representative Angela Berry

Re: News from the IAI

Let me begin by telling you how very proud I am to represent the members of NC Division of the
IAI as your Regional Representative! I cannot state it often enough that I am here for you to
answer your thoughts, questions or concerns as they relate to the NCIAI and the IAI and if I do
not have the right answer I will find someone who does! Please do not hesitate to contact me via
the email address or phone numbers listed at the bottom of this report; I am here for you!!

This year there were not as many changes as last year but there were a few worth noting.

Federal Update
Referred to as the Leahy/Cornyn Bill the bill to establish the Federal Office of Forensic
Science (FOFS) is expected to become law this coming fall. Former IAI President Leslie
Hammer will be posting a PowerPoint of the bills time line on the IAIs website. I was told that
with the passage of this bill the federal government would become an advocate of state and local
governments forensic science laboratories.
Also, it was noted that the federal government will not be considering digital evidence as
a forensic science.



Crime Scene Certification Committee (CSCC)
In answering the question, Why be certified the CSCC pointed to the statement made in
February 2009 by the National Research Council that no person should be allowed to practice a
forensic science without being certified.
All IAI certifications were accredited by the Forensic Specialties Accreditation Board in
2010 for a five year term therefore the IAI will be going through re-accreditation in 2015.
The CSCC stressed that to qualify to take any of the crime scene certification exams one
must be actively involved in actually going to the crime scene and collecting evidence. Just
processing evidence in a lab is not enough.
The qualifications to take the exam for any of the crime scene related certifications can
be located on the IAI website at www.theiai.org and then click on the certifications tab on the
left side of the main web page.
No on-line classes will be considered for points towards certification or re-certification.
The CSCC also stated that college courses would not be considered but I questioned that because
I know in NC we have several colleges that teach actual hands-on crime scene classes and see
no reason one could not use those types of classes toward certification. The CSCC stated that
they would not accept classes that were lecture based so they made the no college ruling to
keep those types of classes out of consideration. The CSCC agreed to accept, for consideration,
a detailed outline of the classes offered such as crime scene processing, footwear & tire tread
impressions and crime scene photography. I will be compiling documentation on these classes
and where they are taught in NC in the very near future. I will keep you up dated on the progress
and welcome any input from those of you who teach these classes!
The IAI is trying to develop a way of making the written part of the testing a totally on-
line endeavor.
For recertification there is no longer a grace period! Your certification expires on the
listed expiration date! If your certification expires you must go through the whole process again
just as though you were never certified. To keep up with that date you may log on to your IAI
account via the IAI website; if you have a certification then you have an account. I believe the
IAI web site will explain how to access your account but, if not, please contact me and I will
explain the process and even give you the password!
Number of certified people as of August 2014:
Crime Scene Investigator: 842
Crime Scene Analyst: 357
Senior Crime Scene Analyst: 301
Crime Scene Reconstruction: 16

Latent Print Certification Committee (LPCC)
The big news here is the current pass rate statistics. As you remember from last year
(2013), the comparison part of the certification exam was changed to reflect the test requirements
of an examiner having two years of experience. At that time questions were raised as to what
would happen if the passing rate percentages were to rise significantly and the answer was that
that issue would be discussed if that should occur. The overall pass rate when the percentages
are tallied using data from 1977 (when the test was first enacted) through 2014 is 55.89%
however, the pass rate when using just the data from 2005 (when the test time was changed to 8
hours) through 2014 is 67.01%. The LPCC stated that they will continue to monitor the
numbers. As of August 2014 there were 972 certified examiners in the world with most being in
the United States.
As with all the other IAI certifications, you are now totally responsible for keeping up
with your certifications expiration date! If you do not recertify before the expiration date you
will have to begin the entire process as though you were never certified. If you have an existing
certification then you have an IAI account that you may access through the IAI website. If you
need help in accessing your account let me know and I will try and help.
An effort is being made to digitize the exam to include self-grading which will put an
end to that awful time between putting the finished exam in the mail and hearing if you passed!
No timeline was given for the start of the digitized exam and even if the exam is totally digitized
a hard copy will still be available upon request.
The LPCC is currently reviewing the recertification exam to determine if it is too easy
as some people have complained. I was among most everyone in attendance in stating that I
believe the recertification exam is just fine and they need to leave it alone!

In conclusion, I want to once again stress that I am here for you and will answer any of your
questions, comments, problems or concerns involving the IAI and NC IAI! If I cant find your
answers, I will find someone who can!

Angela R Berry, CLPE, CCSI
NC IAI Regional Representative
angelarbsaxon@gmail.com
910-677-5407