The Law Enforcement exam draws on 19 CJK sections, from Introduction to Law Enforcement through Conducted Electrical Weapons. FDLE does not publish how many questions come from each, so treat every section as fair game. The descriptions below come from the Florida statutes each area rests on, not from the academy textbooks.
FDLE lists the same sections for basic recruit graduates and for officers coming through Equivalency of Training. The exam is 200 questions in three hours, with 152 of the 190 scored items needed to pass (see the passing score). Here is the list in FDLE's order.
Foundations
- CJK 0002 Introduction to Law Enforcement. The certification system itself: minimum qualifications in s. 943.13 (age 19, U.S. citizenship, a high school diploma or equivalent, no felony conviction), the exam requirement in s. 943.1397, and the Commission's power to revoke certification under s. 943.1395.
- CJK 0016 Communication. Talking people down before force is needed. Florida's use-of-force training standards in s. 943.1735 require instruction on de-escalation and on recognizing signs of a substance abuse disorder or mental illness.
- CJK 0018 Legal. The constitutional limits on searches, seizures and questioning, plus Florida's arrest statute. Under s. 901.15 an officer may arrest without a warrant for a felony on reasonable belief, but for most misdemeanors only when committed in the officer's presence. Section 933.09 lets an officer break a door to execute a warrant only after giving notice of authority and purpose and being refused.
- CJK 0019 Interviewing & Report Writing. Getting facts from victims, witnesses and suspects, and writing them down accurately. A knowingly false written statement meant to mislead a public servant is a crime under s. 837.06.
Patrol and the community
- CJK 0063 Fundamentals of Patrol. Everyday field contacts. The Florida Stop and Frisk Law, s. 901.151, allows a temporary detention on circumstances reasonably indicating a crime, no longer than reasonably necessary, and a weapons pat-down only when the officer has probable cause to believe the person is armed.
- CJK 0021 Serving Your Community. Calls that are not crimes. An officer may take a person who appears to meet Baker Act criteria to a receiving facility for involuntary examination (s. 394.463) and may use protective custody for substance-impaired people under the Marchman Act (s. 397.677). Child abuse and abuse of vulnerable adults must be reported (ss. 39.201, 415.1034).
Crimes and investigations
- CJK 0072 Crimes Against Persons. Murder (s. 782.04), assault and battery (ss. 784.011, 784.03), robbery (s. 812.13) and domestic violence (s. 741.28). Florida allows a domestic violence arrest on probable cause without the victim's consent (s. 901.15(7)), and s. 741.29 lists what the investigating officer must do for the victim.
- CJK 0073 Crimes Involving Property and Society. Burglary (s. 810.02), theft (s. 812.014), criminal mischief (s. 806.13), drug offenses under ch. 893 and weapons offenses under ch. 790. The useful habit is matching the facts to the elements of the right offense.
- CJK 0079 Crime Scene Follow-up Investigations. Evidence, warrants and identification. Florida's Eyewitness Identification Reform Act, s. 92.70, requires lineups to be run by an independent administrator who does not know which person is the suspect, or by a photo method that keeps the administrator from seeing which photo the witness is viewing.
Traffic
- CJK 0400 Traffic Incidents. The difference between a noncriminal infraction and a criminal traffic offense under s. 318.14, and the duty of drivers to yield and pull over for emergency vehicles under s. 316.126.
- CJK 0401 Traffic Stops. An officer may arrest for a ch. 316 violation committed in the officer's presence (s. 901.15(5)). Willfully fleeing after being ordered to stop is a third-degree felony under s. 316.1935.
- CJK 0402 Traffic Crash Investigations. When the long-form crash report is required and its 10-day deadline (s. 316.066), the felony of leaving a crash involving injury (s. 316.027), and the officer's power to arrest a driver at a crash scene on personal investigation (s. 316.645).
- CJK 0403 DUI Traffic Stops. DUI is impairment of normal faculties or a blood or breath alcohol level of 0.08 or more (s. 316.193). Implied consent applies after a lawful arrest (s. 316.1932), and refusing a lawful breath or urine test after the required warnings carries a license suspension and is itself a misdemeanor (s. 316.1939). See our traffic and DUI practice questions.
Emergencies and driving
- CJK 0093 Critical Incidents. Disasters, disorders and mass-casualty events. The Governor's emergency powers sit in s. 252.36, and s. 870.04 directs officers to command an unlawful or riotous assembly, in the name of the state, to disperse.
- CJK 0020 Law Enforcement Vehicle Operations. An emergency vehicle responding to a call may pass red signals after slowing, exceed speed limits and disregard turning rules, but s. 316.072(5) never relieves the driver of the duty to drive with due regard for everyone's safety.
High-liability skills
- CJK 0031 First Aid for Criminal Justice Officers. Emergency care in the field. Florida's Good Samaritan Act (s. 768.13) protects good-faith emergency care, law enforcement officers may carry and give naloxone (s. 381.887), and s. 943.1735 requires agencies to train a duty to render medical aid after force.
- CJK 0040 Criminal Justice Firearms. When deadly force is lawful. Section 776.05 covers force in making an arrest, s. 776.06 counts firing at a vehicle carrying the arrestee as deadly force, and s. 943.1740 requires agency policies that send for independent review any use of force that causes a death and any intentional firearm discharge that injures someone.
- CJK 0051 Criminal Justice Defensive Tactics. Control without excess. Section 943.1735 limits chokeholds, where an agency allows them, to an immediate threat of serious injury or death, and requires a duty to intervene in another officer's excessive force. Under s. 776.051, a person may not use force to resist an officer acting in good faith.
- CJK 0421 Conducted Electrical Weapon/Dart-Firing Stun Gun. Section 943.1717 allows a dart-firing stun gun only when an arrestee escalates from passive to active physical resistance and can threaten the officer or others or is trying to flee, and sets a 4-hour basic course and 1 hour of annual training.
Chapters 316, 776 and 901 come up again and again in the list above: traffic, use of force and arrest. If you trained years ago or outside Florida, those are where the state's own wording matters most; our legal practice questions work through them.
How to study a list this long
Because FDLE publishes no weights, the safe plan is coverage: work every section, then go back to the ones where you miss most. Our bank of about 737 questions, 412 of them in law enforcement mode, is sorted into the same areas, so you can drill one at a time, then sit a full 200-question run in three hours to test your pacing. If you are heading for a jail or prison post instead, the corrections exam has its own 11 sections.