Child Sex Trafficking (CST) is a crime that is hidden yet in plain sight. First responders are often the first system members to make contact with a CST victim. A CST victim has been heavily groomed for system contact, is fearful of their trafficker, and often not forthcoming about their exploitive situation. Deconstruct the crime of CST and identify common scenarios in which you may come in contact with a CST victim. Discover victim-centered contact practices you can implement which are specific to CST victims. Recognize how to secure vital evidence which may only be available during your initial contact with the victim. Practice group exercises and develop contact and response plans to common scenarios you may encounter.
Protective Security Details (PSD) and physical security measures in the courthouse requires a deliberate approach to prevent injury, embarrassment, or disruption of court proceedings. This course will focus on planning and executing safety protocols to protect all courtroom participants (both prior to, during and after court proceedings). Focus will include security measures for tribal courts, community courts, court commissioner areas, municipal courts, and more formal state court structures.
Examine the importance of multidisciplinary team (MDT) case coordination and evidence corroboration in the investigation of child abuse cases. Various members of the Multidisciplinary Team, such as law enforcement, child protective services, and forensic interviewers may gather different or differing information. Learn how to evaluate evidentiary findings through crime scene images, interviews and case studies. Understand multidisciplinary team members' roles and responsibilities for protecting child victims and prosecuting offenders. Focus on offenders’ use of technology, including the use of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in grooming and manipulation. Discuss a variety of technology that can be used by investigators.
Technology plays a tremendous role in our children's lives. Learn about the ways children are interacting online to create better understanding and open up meaningful communication. Increase awareness of opportunities to protect and connect with children while also gathering valuable information to mitigate threats posed by individuals who seek to exploit them.
Child sex trafficking (CST) is like no other crime. Victimization may happen hundreds of times and can be difficult to identify due to the victims being missing children coupled with the trafficker’s hold on victims. Dissect the crime of CST, its complex nature, and discover how to investigate this crime fully. Develop trauma-informed approaches to ensure your victim interview does not retraumatize and you gain critical information to identify corroborative evidence. Examine the trafficker’s profile and motivation, how they impact your suspect interview, and proven suspect interview strategies. Recognize common evidence available, legal hurdles, and common defenses of traffickers.
Learn about the roles of law enforcement, first responders, investigators, and child protective services when investigating the death of a child. Receive an overview of the important investigative tips and information related to the causes of death, and the duties and investigative needs of the medical examiner/coroner.
Avoid potential conflict both professionally and personally by learning to organize your thinking and respond calmly. Consider the approaches you can take to prevent and respond to verbal conflict. This course will explore the communication process, conflict prevention, and help you understand why conflicts occur. Instruction will also cover certain circumstances in which verbal de-escalation techniques may not be appropriate, and provide techniques to resolve such conflicts. Join us to learn how de-escalation techniques and communication skills can potentially defuse tense situations and lead to more successful outcomes. This training does not cover physical intervention techniques.
Develop and enhance the skills of the 21st Century criminal justice instructor or trainer. Examine how adults learn and explore effective instructional methods. Develop a structured learning plan, apply adult-learning techniques, utilize instructional technology, evaluate learner retention strategies, and the legal implication of instruction.
Discuss why juveniles runaway and dangers that apply to youth during this time-frame. Explore strategies for interrupting chronic runaway behavior, while providing a tool to help assess and document runaway reasons, behaviors, and intervention options. Consider trauma that can occur during these runaway events and approaching youth during traumatic events.
FIGG is a multidisciplinary approach – led by the investigator, prosecutors, forensic DNA experts, genealogical researchers have to come together to ultimately identify an unknown individual. But equally importantly is the buy-in from police leadership, so downstream from case resolution an agency can retain the know-how, best practices, and build a sustainable and evolved long-term plan for not only FIGG, but a new way of thinking about forensic DNA.
