DEA Basic Narcotics Course

Course Goal: 

According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, approximately 31% or more of current criminal cases in Federal Court are narcotics-related cases.  The Alabama Sentencing Commission reported that in the Fiscal Year 2023 (2023-2024), there were 5,268 convictions for Possession of Controlled Substances, 1,258 convictions for Possession of Controlled Substances with Intent to Distribute, 210 convictions for Drug Trafficking, and numerous convictions for other narcotics crimes that all together comprised approximately 42% of felony convictions within the State of Alabama. 

Drug crimes are a reality and a problem within communities that require skilled and intuitive officers, along with fundamentally sound investigative and interrogation practices by those officers to find, seize, administratively/physically document, and properly process drug crime evidence to support constitutional arrests, mitigate civil liability, and further ensure that narcotics-related crimes are prosecuted without critical errors. 

This training serves to bring the knowledge, skills, and technical abilities for officers to proactively make narcotics-related cases through buy-busts, controlled buys, targeted constitutional enforcement actions, and interview/interrogation procedures and actions.  It further enables officers to properly conduct and document narcotics-related cases during controlled buys and buy-busts through administrative processes that support immediate and future prosecution actions.  Lastly, this course seeks to give officers the needed knowledge and information to conduct effective informant management, ensure operational security, conduct fundamentally sound tactical operations and planning, and build effective interview/interrogation techniques. 

In an added goal for this course, officers will learn life-saving tactical medicine that is a needed and critical skill for high-risk, narcotics-related operations that often deal with violent and repeat offenders. 

Course Objective: 

This one-week (5 Day), 40-hour course is designed to facilitate effective detection, investigation, documentation, and evidence collection practices related to narcotics crimes leading to effective criminal prosecution.  This course gives knowledge, skills, and considerations for the administrative, planning, and implementation of tactical operations related to narcotics crimes and the processes that fall within the scope of a narcotics investigator/detective or officer assigned to work narcotics as an individual or as part of a multi-jurisdictional narcotics task force. 

Topics Include: 

• Introduction to Current Narcotics Trends and Terminology 

• Informant Identification and Management 

• Controlled Buy/Bust Operations 

• Link Analysis Through Proactive Investigation 

• Garbage Rips 

• Development of Effective and Constitutional Search Warrant Affidavits 

• Introduction to Interview & Interrogation Techniques 

• Digital & Physical Evidence Collection Related to Narcotics Crimes 

• Introduction to Digital Evidence Photography 

• Operational Planning/Execution Skills & Considerations 

• Operational Security (OPSEC) Deconfliction 

• Team Movements Supporting Tactical Operations 

• Distraction Devices & Mechanical Breaching Techniques 

• Vehicle Assaults/Takedowns 

• Tactical Medicine & Gunshot Trauma Treatment 

• Search Warrant Operational Planning & Tactical Execution 

• Culminating Event Testing Skills Learned & Their Implementation By Students 

Who Should Attend: 

• Officers Due to Be Assigned to Narcotics Roles Either Individually or Part of a Multi-Jurisdictional Narcotics Task Force 

• Officers APOSTC or POST-Certified Law Enforcement Officers from Alabama or Other States 

APOSTC Continuing Education Credit: 

• This Training Provides Forty (40) Hours of APOSTC CEU Credits 

• This Training Provides Forty (40) Hours of POST CEU Credits for Outside States (If Approved By Your State) 

Special Required Equipment & Attendance Notes: 

• Attending Officers MUST BRING an SLR Digital Camera with Some Digital Storage Capability for Crime Scene Photography Practicals 

• Officer MUST ATTEND All Five Days to Receive Full CEU Credit and Attain Successful Course Graduation 

• Days 1-2, 4-5 are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm 
• Day 3 is 11:00 am to 9:00 pm (Please Plan Accordingly)