Certified Members Yearly Requirements
Once a member is certified by the High Tech Crime Network in a specific discipline, they must adhere to the rules governing certification in order for their certification to remain valid. All certified members must do the following every year following the year they were certified;
1. Maintain an active membership in the High Tech Crime Network - Each certified member must maintain their membership in the High Tech Crime Network. Failure to do so invalidates the certification on the date the membership expires. Renewing the membership is easy via the htcn.org website. Payment links are located at the bottom of the membership page.
Any prosecutor, plaintiff’s attorney, defense attorney, opposing expert or any other person may easily validate a membership number. This is accomplished at the top right side of the certification page via a link labeled HTCN Membership: Verify Status. No confidential data is provided when a search is conducted. When a search of a certification number is run, it only returns the person’s name, certification(s) and date of expiration, which is the date when your certification becomes invalid if you have not maintained your membership.
2. Obtain at least ten hours of training in the specific discipline for each certification – Every certified member must have at least ten Continuing Education Hours completed during the year following the year that they were certified. For example, if you received a certification on
February 1, 2012 or October 1, 2012, then you must complete ten hours of training prior to January 1, 2014 and then ten Continuing Education Hours of training prior to every January 1 in the following years.
Each year you renew your membership to maintain your certification(s) you do so knowing that you are required to have the ten hours of Continuing Education Hours. However, there is no way at this time for us to verify that the training has occurred. While we accept the word of our certified members it is important to point out that if during a trial or a deposition you admit not having the required training, then the certification is invalid at the time the prior training has expired.
So it is important to track this and to make sure you have met all requirements and can prove it in a court of law or during a deposition. Just because you have a wallet certification card showing an expiration date sometime in the future, does not mean you are certified. You must adhere to all yearly requirements for that card to be valid.
Serving as a Regional President or Certification Board Member counts as five training hours each year. In addition, each article that you author and publish regarding the discipline for which you are certified will count as one hour of training. Lastly, any course you teach in the discipline you hold a certification, counts as half time. For example, if you teach a ten hour course, you will receive five hours of credits toward your training.
3. Follow the code of ethics identified by the High Tech Crime Network - The High Tech Crime
Network has identified a Code of Ethics that all members must follow, whether certified or not. Please make sure you familiarize yourself with them and follow them. Failure to do so may lead to revocation of your membership and or certification.