Investigative Programs

Led by a highly experienced crime scene expert with decades of real-world investigative and forensic processing experience, this 4-day hands-on course is designed to give students the confidence and skills needed to manage any crime scene from start to finish. Drawing on a wide range of recent cases and first-hand knowledge, the instructor will guide students through the full spectrum of crime scene procedures using proven, field-tested techniques. This course is ideal for patrol officers, detectives, and crime scene personnel looking to elevate their abilities in evidence recognition, scene management, and documentation.

Course Highlights:

• Instructor-led training based on years of experience in major case investigations and evidence processing
• Step-by-step guidance from scene security to evidence packaging
• Crime scene photography with emphasis on camera settings for both day and night (students should bring their own camera)
• Real case examples with scene photos and evidence demonstrations
• Budget-conscious techniques developed from practical field experience

Evidence Processing Techniques Include:

• Cyanoacrylate (superglue fuming)
• Basic Yellow dye
• Ninhydrin
• Small Particle Reagent
• Adhesive Developer
• Alternate Light Sources
• Casting impressions for shoeprints and tire tracks

A practical, hands-on session will allow students to develop latent prints on various surfaces, photograph them, and lift them using tape, hinge lifters, and silicone techniques — guided by the instructor’s expert insights. POSTC credits will be awarded upon completion.

This hands-on photography course will expose students to the nuances of crime scene and evidence photography to properly and effectively photo-document a crime scene and the evidence contained therein. The course includes lectures and practical exercises including legal standards and the SWIGT and OSAC best practices. This fast-paced course begins with the fundamentals associated with controlling a photographic exposure using a Digital SLR camera system. The course continues with basic camera controls (f/Stops/ISO/shutter speed), then more advanced controls, and finally, the student will apply these skills to a variety of scenarios and evidence. It includes a series of practical exercises where students will be divided into pairs and given an assignment with their cameras to familiarize themselves with techniques discussed previously during a lecture, followed by a presentation of images for class review and critique.
Course Topics Include: Exposure, Depth of Field, Low Light Photography, Flash, Painting With Light, Crime Scene Photography, Use of Filters, Alternate Light Source Photography, Evidence Photography, Macro Photography, Vehicle 360, and Body Panoramic Documentation.

Special Emphasis on Complicated & “Out of the Ordinary” Cases:

Special Emphasis on Equivocal Deaths:

Explore the causes and manners of death through various case studies. Did you know there are six manners of death—not just the five commonly known? Learn the essential do’s and don’ts of handling death scenes based on their classification. What is the role of a death investigator? Understand how law enforcement and death investigators can best collaborate.

Bonus session: Analyzing celebrity deaths with case studies and pictures.

Drug Deaths: Examine current trends in drugs in the United States. Learn how to recognize a potential overdose-related death based on scene analysis and how to best process the evidence. Review a list of red flags to help assist with scene interpretation.

Equivocal Deaths: Learn what happens when the manner and cause of death are unclear. Explore the complexities of undetermined deaths and how medical examiners navigate them. This includes homicides, electrocutions, drownings, sexual assaults, and vulnerable populations (e.g., children, elderly, or homeless individuals). Emphasis is placed on a team-based investigative approach.

This dynamic and comprehensive narcotics training course is designed to equip new detectives and experienced patrol officers with the tools necessary to conduct effective narcotics investigations and operations. Participants will learn the fundamental duties and responsibilities of a narcotics investigator and how to establish a successful investigative program from day one. A strong emphasis will be placed on documenting every step of the investigative process. Officers will be instructed on proper case documentation practices and the importance of creating and maintaining detailed case files.

Officers will receive in-depth training on the identification of common street drugs, paraphernalia, and cutting agents. The course will also include hands-on practical exercises in covert surveillance techniques—both on foot and in vehicles—highlighting the critical role surveillance plays in narcotics enforcement.

Developing and managing human sources of information is another vital component of this course. Instruction will cover the importance of building a reliable network of overt and covert contacts to maintain an offensive posture in narcotics investigations. Officers will also examine the unpredictable nature and inherent risks of working with confidential informants. Key topics include when and how to use informants, controlling and holding them accountable, predicting their behavior, and assessing their changing motivations.

Guest speaker Attorney Russ Iger, a seasoned legal professional, will present on search and seizure laws relevant to our state, as well as ethical considerations unique to narcotics enforcement. Marisa Edelberg will lead a session on overdose-related deaths and the risks of exposure to dangerous substances. Officers will also learn how to collaborate effectively with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners through task forces, joint investigations, information and resource sharing, deconfliction processes, and cross-agency training. Finally, Dan Ortiz, a subject matter expert, will discuss current cell phone-related investigative strategies and techniques that can be applied to a wide range of criminal investigations.

This Gang Identification training course will arm new detectives and experienced patrol officers with the tools they need to conduct successful gang-related investigations and operations. It will provide an overview of current Connecticut motorcycle gangs & street gangs and their identifiers, rituals, terminology, structure and model. Officers will learn the fundamental duties and responsibilities of investigators assigned to gang, organized crime, urban violence, and related task forces. An emphasis will be placed on identification, documentation, and cataloguing of gangs that pose a threat to Connecticut, specifically; and are present globally.

Officers will be shown proper case documentation and the importance of creating and maintaining valid, vetted case files and databases, in line with national standards. They will receive in-depth training on the history and etymology of: common street gangs (national, neighborhood and hybrid); outlaw motorcycle gangs; international organized crime groups; ties to extremist groups (including sovereign citizen groups, extremists and terrorism); and drug cartels.
Covert surveillance tactics, drug identification, national drug threat assessment, undercover operations, and use of confidential human sources of information are also discussed. Subject matter experts will discuss the potential dangers when working with gangs and gang-related investigations, including the phenomenon of “law enforcement gangs”. Officers will also learn how to work and coordinate with federal, state, and other local enforcement counterparts through task forces, mutual investigations, information sharing, resource sharing, de-confliction, and training to utilize state and federal statutes (CORA and RICO) to disrupt and/or dismantle gangs. Strategies for education and prevention will also be discussed.

The course includes lectures and practical exercises including the subjects of Report Writing, legal standards, definitions and implications; specialized reports and reporting language; and any new reporting requirements under HB 6004: An Act Concerning Police Accountability.

This course will focus on providing law enforcement officers with the training needed for investigators to conduct interviewing and interrogation techniques. We will discuss methods to conduct non-verbal and behavioral analysis as well as verbal indicators that denote truth or deception. This is an entry level course designed for officers with little to no experience. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: Implement best practices for conducting an interview, understand how to establish rapport, distinguish the types of interviews, and understand body language. Students will learn how to prepare for an interview, how to elicit the maximum amount of information from an interviewee, the differences in interviewing juvenile versus adult suspects, the differences interviewing in a controlled environment versus a street interrogation and establishing Miranda timeframes. The course will include Mock Interviews and encourage class participation. Course Topics Include: Suspects Only: Behavioral Assessment, Confrontation, and Interrogation. Halo Effect, Truth Bias, Cognitive Interviewing, Themes for Interviewing, Hurdles Interviewer Will Face, Deception Clues (Non-Verbal), Time to Confront, Interview to Interrogation, Confessions, Case Law, Best Practices, Street/Field Interrogations, Truthful versus Deceptive. CT POST credits.

This one day seminar is geared for the first responding officer, supervisor or detective who finds himself in the position of first contact with an individual who has been the victim of an attempted or completed sexual assault. The initial first contact with the victim, witness or suspect is critical to a successful prosecution. Understanding best practices for these types of investigations, at the first level of contact, will help the responding officer, supervisor or detective identify key aspects of the case, stabilize the scene and initiate the investigation.  It will also help them to understand how to be successful with this information in the courtroom.
The seminar will include classroom lecture, audio/video presentation, case study and group work, if time permits.  Students will receive six CT POST credits for this seminar.

This course will instruct investigators on how to evaluate and organize any unsolved cases that have gone “Cold” to include homicides, sexual assaults, missing persons and unidentified human remains. The importance of a well-organized “working” case binder as well as the need to locate and evaluate any physical evidence remaining in the case will also be discussed. The latest forensic testing capabilities for DNA, Touch DNA, Mitochondrial DNA, Latent Prints and Forensic Genealogy will also be covered. Several law enforcement and public website databases that can help to increase the exposure of the case along with the importance of the use of Social Media and the News Media . The mindset of a “Cold Case Investigator” and his/her need to be a “Lobbyist” for the victim with the Prosecutor’s Office and the Forensic Laboratory will also be discussed. All attendees are encouraged to bring one of their cases to the training so they can evaluate and begin to organize the case if needed. Templates for Excel spreadsheets to organize cases and website case summaries will also be provided to help jump-start the investigative process. Discussion will include several “Cold Cases” closed by the instructor with an arrest or identification of the remains using a variety of forensic techniques.

Why do some people talk to us and others don’t? This unique training program will provide an answer to this important investigative question. By exploring the personality sub-types, attendees will see commonalities among offenders and crime scenes. Typically, crime scene investigators, first responders to veteran detectives would benefit from attending. Attendees will walk away with the knowledge of how behavior analysis can solve crime. The techniques taught will help confirm that the investigator has the right person of interest responsible for the crime. It is STRONGLY recommended that each agency be prepared to discuss at least one of their own cases.  Open to sworn personnel only.

Both overt and covert human sources of information are the most important tool available to law enforcement. Developing a network of overt and covert contacts is critical for law enforcement to remain on the offense. Simultaneously, they are also unpredictable and dangerous. Working with covert sources, confidential informants, investigators must know when it is necessary to use them, how to control them, how to hold them accountable, how to predict their behavior, and how to assess their changing motivation.This is an introductory course designed to provide the criminal investigator a working knowledge of the risks and rewards surrounding investigative methods involving the use of human assets.  The investigator will understand how to spot and assess potential informants, recruit, cultivate, develop, and manage the relationship while safeguarding informant anonymity, maintaining officer safety, minimize liability to the agency and investigator, and ensure case success.

This class is restricted to those members sworn in law enforcement and/or directly involved with intelligence functions which utilize human assets. Students will be vetted prior to entry in the class.