Economic and Financial Crime Investigations

The Economic and Financial Crime Investigations Course is designed for criminal investigators and provides a foundation for financial investigations.  The course provides an overview of the fraud investigation process, identification of offenses and common schemes, obtain records, analyzing the records that includes investigative accounting, analytical tools, and financial analysis techniques, case organization and presentation for prosecution.

Length of Course:            10 Days

Topic Areas Covered:

• Fraud Investigation Process
• Common Fraud Schemes
• Civil, Criminal and Administrative Remedies
• Securing Records
• Link Analysis
• Investigative Accounting and Financial Analysis Techniques
• Investigative Applications of Electronic Spreadsheets
• Electronic Case Organization
• Tracing transactions to determine the source of illegal funds
• Virtual Currency
• Benford’s Law Analysis
• Interview Skills for Financial Cases

Basic Investigator Course

The Basic Investigator Course is designed as an introductory course for conducting criminal investigations and covers from the initial response to the scene to courtroom presentation.  Investigators will learn how to evaluate a crime scene and determine the type of crime/s that has been committed and the physical parameters of the crime scene.  This course will also prepare the investigator in properly locating, documenting, collecting and preserving the physical evidence and effective techniques for interviewing witnesses, victims and suspects.

Length of Course:            10 Days

Topic Areas Covered:

• Crime Scene Analysis
• Solvability Factors
• Recognition of Physical Evidence
• Search Warrant Factors
• Crime Scene Sketches
• Locating and preserving latent prints
• Casting Techniques (Shoe and Tire Impressions)
• Photography documentation
• Interviews and Interrogations
• Case Reporting
• Intelligence Sources
• Court Preparation

Major Case Management

The Major Case Management Course is designed for law enforcement supervisors, managers, and command staff who have responsibility to conduct and manage major criminal investigations including Poly-drug/Poly-crime Organizations (Terrorism-Narcotics Nexus) and transnational criminal organizations.  The course will cover the various components of major case management and the policies and infrastructure that a police organization should have in place before a situation occurs.

Length of Course:            10 Days

Topic Areas Covered:

• Principles of Major Investigations
• Conspiracy Theory and Law
• Compartmentalized Criminal Operations
• Poly-drug/Poly-crime Organizations (Terrorism-Narcotics Nexus)
• Complex Conspiracy Casework
• Transnational Criminal Organizations
• Extended resource/long term investigations
• Undercover and Sting Operations
• Mass Arrest Projects
• Operational and Support Functions
• Communications Plan and Information Management
• Single Agency and Multi-Agency Task Force Operations
• After Action Reporting and Debriefing

Interviews and Interrogations

The Interview and Interrogations training course is designed for both new and experienced police investigators.  Participants will learn methods to employ for establishing rapport; being able to determine criminal personality profiling for confronting and eliciting information from an individual; and using statement analysis and cognitive interviewing techniques for extracting accurate information from individuals.

Length of Course:            10 Days

Topic Areas Covered:

• The Verbal Communication Process
• Witness memory enhancement
• Flow of information
• Interviewing Process
• Kinesics Interview Techniques
• Detecting Deception
• Videotaping and recording interrogations
• Interview of Rape Victims
• Interview of Child Witnesses and Victims
• Criminal Personality Profiling for Interviews
• Psychology of Interrogations
• Miller’s Law
• Obtaining a Pure Version/Free Narrative Account
• Securing the Statement
• Assessing the Statement
• Identifying Key Elements in the Statement
• Developing and Maintaining Rapport
• Enhancing your Active Listening
• Timing and Location of Interviews
• Key Components of Cognitive Interviewing

Homicide Investigations Course

The Homicide Investigation Course is designed to provide both the first responder and lead homicide investigator with the knowledge and skills to thoroughly and professionally investigate death and homicide investigations.  Participants will learn a systematic process for handling the crime scene and the latest technology and forensic sciences that can assist in a homicide investigation.

Length of Course:            5 Days

Topic Areas Covered:

• Death Scene Preservation
• First Responder Actions
• Investigative Procedures at the Death Scene
• Team Approach to Death Investigations
• Autoerotic Death Investigations
• Causes and Manner of Death
• Time of Death Determination
• Criminal Personality Profiling
• Organized vs. Disorganized Crime Scenes
• Death Scene Search Techniques
• Suicide Investigations
• Homicide Interrogation Techniques

Investigative Analysis of Cold Case Homicide 

This course offers extensive insight as to the innovative techniques and the proper procedures used by law enforcement investigators conducting cold case homicide investigations and is taught by IPTACS Senior Training and Consulting Associate Joe Matthews, who has personally conducted over 1,000 death investigations, supervised the investigation of homicides for over twenty years and who is accepted as a homicide investigation expert witness in federal court will discuss the protocols of investigating cold case homicides. This course will take the novice as well as the veteran investigator and those involved in the criminal justice system, step by step to understand and to follow the concepts of conducting a cold case homicide investigation. This course examines the positives and negatives of the case in review as well as the use of innovative techniques in crime scene and evidence analysis, investigative interviewing and case file review and analysis. This course combines the creative thinking of the newly assigned investigator to the selective use the case file information that was provided by the previous investigators.

Length of Training:          2 Days

Topic Areas Covered:

• Methodology Used in Cold Case Homicide Investigations
• Investigative interviewing techniques and the interpretation of non-verbal communication as it relates to suspects and hostile witnesses
• Proven methods in case presentation of case file analysis
• Color coding the state of mind of the investigator
• How to properly review a cold case homicide file
• Obtaining pertinent case information through other means
• What and what not to rely on from the investigative file
• How to conduct an analysis of the cold case file reports
• How to conduct an analysis of witness and suspect statements
• The importance of reviewing and analyzing previously obtained evidence
• The importance of preparing and following a priority list and modifying said list
• Creative thinking and thinking out of the box
• Following cold case protocols that involve three basic and simple conceptsNew science and forensics have changed over time
• Review of original data with fresh eyes and viewpoints
• Relationships and loyalty changes over time
• Case presentation to the State Attorney’s Office to seat a grand jury and obtain an
• Arrest warrant and exceptionally clear a case.

Sex Crimes Investigations Course

The Sex Crimes Investigations Course is designed to provide the police investigator with the requisite skills and knowledge to effectively investigate sex related crimes.  Participants will have an understanding of the skills, knowledge, and abilities associated with the utilization of criminal profiling techniques during the investigation.

Length of Course:            5 Days

Topic Areas Covered:

• Myths and Stereotyping of Sexual Assault Cases
• Legal and Ethical Aspects of Sexual Assault Investigations
• Rape Trauma Syndrome and Emotional First Aid
• Initial Response
• Physical Evidence
• Interviewing
• Interrogation
• Pattern Identification, Investigation, and Response
• Stress Management for Sexual Assault Investigators
• Mobile Phone, Social Media, and Digital Photograph Exploitation
• Special Investigative Challenges:  Alleged Assault Within Institutions
• Criminal Profiling Techniques for Sex Crime Investigators:  Application of the Methodology Utilized When Analyzing Sexual Crimes
• Reliability of Eyewitness Identifications
• False Allegations of Rape
• Assessment of Verbal and Written Statements to Determine Deception

Sexual Deviance in the New Millennium

This course is designed for all public safety personnel and law enforcement professionals. This course offers detailed analysis into the general mindset of sexually violent individuals from the mouths of those who perpetrated these types of gruesome crimes on unsuspecting citizens. This specialized course brings together innovative approaches to the psychology behind the crime and probes the evolution and unsettling features of violent and non-violent sexual deviant pathology providing forethought and credible warning signs including such topics as necrophilia, pedophilia, cannibalism, criminal sexual sadism, war rape, voyeurism, bestiality, and serial lust murder.

 Length of Training: 3 Days

 Topic Areas Covered:

• The etiology of Paraphilia and sexual predation
• Serial Lust Murder
• Role of Deviant Fantasy
• Psychopathic Triad
• Victim Selection
• Animal cruelty with specific emphasis on types of cruelty
• Evolutionary and Biological Theories of Violent Sexual Predation
• Research and analytical perspectives of the origins of sexualized violence
• Highway Serial Killing Initiative
• Use of the internet and other means with identifying specific pornographic and non-pornographic sites and other material with the goal of appropriately identifying fantasy facilitators and increasing effectiveness of search warrants.
• Cannibalism
• Voyeurism, Worldwide Legal Issues, Worldwide web and the candid upskirt phenomenon, and Investigative tactics and considerations
• Relationship of Pornography & The Paraphilias
• The Hidden Message: Hardcore versus Soft-core Pornography (Research and Statistics)
• Sexual Sadism, Core fantasy themes (Investigative Considerations), War Rape (Offender Characteristics)
• Exhibitionism
• Telephone Scatalogia (case samples)
• Fetishism
• Diagnostic Criteria
• Important Statistics
• Crush Fetish
• Doll Fetish
• Adult Babies
• Necrophilia
• Zoophilia
• Frottuerism (Tamakeri Campaign in Tokyo)
• Bestiality
• Aquaphilia
• Biastophilia
• Frotteurism
• Agalmatophilia
• Somnophilia
• Pedophilia, Etiology, Worldwide ages of legal consent (Investigative interviewing strategies)
• Personality profiles of pedophiles and child molesters
• Pedophiles on the internet
• The why’s behind the crime from a psychological and biological standpoint
• Warning signs
• Sex predator variations
• Juvenile versus adult offenders
• Family dynamics
• Offending behaviors
• Legal and Ethical Considerations of Interviewing and Interrogating sex offenders
• Interviewing Skills and nonverbal behavior
• Important research considerations and data on treatment and recidivism rates
• Offender motivations and cycles of deviance

Narcotics Investigations

IPTACS training and consulting experts in the area of illegal narcotics investigations are subject matter experts with 20+ years of experience in both operational, management, and leadership responsibilities for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and leading federal, state, and municipal governmental organizations.  The listed course content areas can be customized to specific countries laws, regulations, and other requirements to provide important best practice procedures for operational units and management.

Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs Investigations

The Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs Investigations Course is designed to give the investigator the latest information on current trends regarding illegal narcotics and dangerous drugs including drug trends, vehicle stops and searches, utilizing informants, and investigation of drug trafficking organizations and how drug crimes relate to money laundering and other illegal activities.

Length of Course:            10 Days

Topic Areas Covered:

• Drug trends and recognition
• Information Analysis
• Case development
• Investigative and interview techniques
• Case documentation
• Evidence collection and preservation
• Pen registers and wire intercepts
• Surveillance techniques
• Narcotics undercover methods
• Operational planning
• Confidential information & informants
• Legal aspects of undercover investigations
• Search warrants – writing and preparation

Narcotics Enforcement Tactical Response Methods

The Narcotics Enforcement Tactical Response Methods is designed to give the narcotics investigator and/or tactical unit the necessary tactical and officer survival skills critical in most drug enforcement operations involving arrest of narcotics suspects and seizure of illegal narcotics and drugs.

Length of Course:            5 Days

Topic Areas Covered:

• Use of force during street level operations
• Operational planning
• Safety and survival skills in narcotics field operations
• Weapon retention and disarming techniques
• Buy/bust, reverse stings, street “sweeps” and jump-outs
• Vehicle containment and extractions
• Search warrant execution
• Room clearing and searching techniques
• Personnel selection and assignments
• Teamwork and communication
• Equipment and breaching tools

Other Criminal Investigation Courses

The following courses are also available:

• Advanced Crime Specialist Course
• Cyber Crime Investigations
• Counterfeiting and Document Crime Investigations
• Human Trafficking Investigations
• Kidnapping Investigations
• Vice Investigations
• Crime Scene Investigation