Focus: Detectives, Command Officers, Risk Managers, City/County Attorneys, Attorneys General.
Length: 8-hours
This course offers the police investigator and police administrator the latest in how to conduct a competent investigation into the single police incident that can most impact the community the agency serves—the Officer-Involved Shooting. This training, co-taught by an attorney (a former police officer) and an international police trainer who has been serving as an expert witness since 1991, prepares the investigator to meet the legal requirements needed to satisfy a fair and comprehensive investigation that will fulfill the expectations of the prosecutor, the police administration, the jurisdictional risk manager, the citizenry, and the involved officer(s).
Because of continuing societal change, an OIS is likely to have a significant impact upon the operation of any law enforcement agency. How that investigation is conducted will have ramifications on all citizen-police relationships--possibly for decades. Your job demands a fair, balanced look into the facts of the shooting or significant use of force by an officer. This course will take you step-by-step through the minefield involved in any OIS investigation.
You will receive updated legal and practical information that will assist you in conducting a lawful, comprehensive investigation. The laws regarding privacy, witness detention, officer and suspect rights, and more, change--with serious consequences to investigators who fail to abide by these guidelines. Additionally, this course provides detailed checklists that may be employed by responding supervisors in managing the OIS-scene, and by investigators during the interview of officers. These checklists greatly enhance the ability of the investigator to conduct a competent, bullet-proof investigation.
The competent OIS investigation has three components: The criminal investigation, the civil investigation, and the administrative investigation. All three must be present and fully functioning in order to provide a comprehensive review of the factors leading up to and causing the shooting of a citizen by police. This course provides guidelines to meet all three related but separate disciplines.
The current public perspective surrounding the police shooting, as well as the officer’s perspective, is detailed for the investigator. This will include current and foundational court decisions regarding the use of deadly force by officers. In order for any police shooting to be competently investigated, there are standards that the officer must meet. It is up to the investigator to establish whether or not these criteria were present at the time of the shooting.
Local protocols, dealing with the media, and the responsibilities and limitations of the first supervisor on-scene are explored thoroughly. Criminal investigatory limitations, officer rights, and the administrative investigation requirements are detailed, as are the legal standards regarding the sufficiency of an investigation.
How to prepare for litigation, current standards regarding witnesses’ statements, the OIS interview, the legal standards the shooting officer must meet, and privileged civil liability response teams will be dealt with, as will be the pitfalls of past investigations leading to unneeded civil problems. This course packs a lot of information into a short time. The expert instruction by experienced trainers will provide you and your officers with the information necessary to competently and comprehensively investigate any OIS in your jurisdiction.
This course includes:
- Current Trends in Public Perspectives, Officer Experiences, and the Courts Looking at OIS Incidents and the Conduct Preceding the Shooting
- Incident From Start to Finish
- Legal Standards
- Litigation preparation
- Shooting Review Board Standards
- Current Plaintiffs' Threat
- Evaluation of Police Force Formula
- What Is Needed From the OIS Interview
By attending this course, you will deepen your understanding of the "big picture," while at the same time increasing your ability to conduct a competent, legal investigation where the rights of all parties are upheld. This is a nuts-and-bolts course that provides you with advanced methods of getting the best investigation possible, an investigation that will withstand any scrutiny from any source in the future.
Our students claim they received more in this eight-hour class than in 24 hours in others. Let us prove it to you!