Top Gun: Undercover Drug Investigations
Course Description:
Top Gun employs a mix of mediums to enhance learning. The course is built around a straight forward fact scenario. The student will hear lectures and mini-lectures from experts on both the legal principles and the practical aspects of the topics. Immediately following each lecture, students will participate in small group workshops, where they will have the opportunity to apply the fact scenario to the principles just learned. The student will hear lectures and participate in workshops in both portions of the course. In the investigative portion, the workshops are primarily discussion groups where students will also participate in skill-building exercises. These workshops are led by a faculty coordinator. Topics include investigative techniques, rules of evidence, courtroom techniques and presentations, hidden compartment investigations, warrant service techniques, surveillance techniques, interview and interrogation techniques, and asset seizure programs.
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate specific techniques for controlling criminal informants
- Describe reasons why police use various investigative techniques
- List innovative and effective strategies for charging defendants
- Receive and use updated search and seizure information
- Examine search warrants and participate in the planning and the execution of search warrants
- Participate in conducting foot and vehicular surveillance
- Participate in tactical firearms training exercise
- Describe investigators’ concerns
- Describe specific techniques of controlling criminal informants
- Explain how decisions impact the trial outcome
- Execute a search warrant
- List innovative and effective strategies used for charging defendants
- Perform foot and vehicular surveillance
- Use interview and interrogation skills
- Demonstrate knowledge of search and seizure law
- Describe prosecutors concerns
- Describe forfeiture and money laundering techniques
Prerequisites: NCTC certificate of completion for Basic Narcotics
Course Length: 6 days / 44 hours
Who May Attend: Law Enforcement, Prosecutors (involved with narcotics investigations)
Student selections are made by the sponsoring state agency, not NCTC.