INTERNAL AFFAIRS INVESTIGATIONS
Complaint Handling, Procedural Responsibilities, and Legal Guidelines
Course Description:
How citizen complaints and internal affairs investigations are handled within a police organization can have a profound impact on how the public views the professionalism, integrity and trustworthiness of the agency. It is critical for police agencies to ensure internal affairs investigations are managed appropriately from the complaint intake process, to appropriate officer discipline when necessary. Furthermore, it is important to understand the responsibility the agency has to protect members of the agency against false and frivolous allegations. This course provides an overview of the role and functions of Internal Affairs (IA) within law enforcement agencies. This class is designed to benefit ALL members of a law enforcement organization. Whether you are a frontline officer or detective that is out on the streets and interacting with the public every day, middle management, or you are an administrator/command staff member, you will benefit greatly from this class because the instructor will discuss in great detail how, based on best practices, extensive research and many years of experience, the process of an IA Case should be carried out from beginning to end. A critically important component to the success of an Internal Affairs Unit is the ability to conduct an internal investigation that emphasizes impartiality, thoroughness, fairness and objectivity. Being able to elicit the facts in these types of sensitive investigations in an unbiased manner and then presenting those factual findings in a concise, well-articulated and timely manner to assist those with the responsibility of determining any outcomes or discipline will have a major influence on an agency’s ability to maintain integrity, accountability, and public trust.
Topics that will be discussed during this training class will include the IA process, managing complaints, legal and ethical considerations, managing officer misconduct and the investigation itself. Through numerous case studies and practical scenarios, participants will gain foundational knowledge on how to conduct IA investigations that are legal for all parties involved, within policy and procedures and that uphold the professional standards in policing.
The instructor for this informative 24-hour interactive course is Cosimo Castronovo, retired Police Captain from the Aventura Police Department. Cosimo has led Internal Affairs investigations for more than 10 years of his decorated 27-year career. During his time commanding the Internal Affairs Division, he thoroughly investigated and supervised a wide variety of complaints against members of the agency at all levels. This course is designed to provide participants with the best practices in managing and investigating internal affairs investigations. Participants will be trained on the best methods of establishing an efficient complaint in-take procedure and how to properly build an Internal Affairs case file. The instructor will discuss procedures involving allegations against employees when they are criminal in nature, and what the IA investigator’s role is during such investigations. This course will cover statutory and legal challenges that may arise when dealing with sworn and civilian employees. In order to establish trust among members of the community and other law enforcement organizations, IA investigations must be handled with ethics, integrity and transparency in mind. By following the recommended practices taught during this training course, an agency will dramatically increase the chances that the outcomes of their internal investigations will be supported by both the members of the community, as well as the employees of their agency.
Course Objectives:
The goal of this 3-day class is to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of how Internal Affairs investigations should be conducted to provide a thorough, ethical fact-based investigation of an allegation of officer misconduct.
Participants will:
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Understand the purpose and scope of Internal Affairs investigations.
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Identify key steps in the IA investigative process.
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Apply ethical and legal standards to internal investigations.
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Develop investigative skills to handle complaints and conduct thorough investigations.
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Gain knowledge of relevant legal guidelines and procedures.
Who Should Attend:
All City, County, State and Federal Law Enforcement Officers to include Road Patrol Officers, Detectives, Crime Scene Technicians, Supervisors, Command Staff Personnel, Prosecutors, Investigators working for a State/District Attorney’s Office, Medical Examiners/Coroners, Investigators from a Medical Examiner/Coroner’s Office, Investigators and Judge Advocate Generals from the U.S. Armed Forces, Police Legal Advisors, and Crime Analysts.
Requirements to Attend:
To attend this class, you must be currently employed as one of the below-listed descriptions:
1. A sworn law enforcement officer
2. A sworn reserve law enforcement officer
3. A civilian assigned to the Internal Affairs function
4. A prosecutor working for a State Attorney/District Attorney’s Office
5. An Investigator working for a State Attorney’s Office
6. A Doctor working at a Medical Examiner/Coroner’s Office
7. An Investigator at a Medical Examiner/Coroner’s Office
8. Active Duty or Reserve Military Personnel who are responsible for investigating or supervising or prosecuting criminal cases. This would include Investigators from the U.S. Armed Forces, Judge Advocate Generals (JAG’s), etc.
9. Police Legal Advisor
10. Crime Analyst
Fees:
$595 per student – Law Enforcement Agencies who host one of our training classes will automatically receive two free admissions to attend the class.
Dress:
Students attending our training classes should follow their department or agency Policies and Procedures Manual guidelines regarding authorized clothing and uniforms to wear while attending approved training classes. If law enforcement personnel choose to wear civilian clothing to our training classes and they plan on being armed, we would respectfully request that you either keep your firearm concealed or if your firearm is exposed, please have your agency ID and/or a badge clearly visible at all times identifying you as law enforcement officer.
How to Register:
To register for a course, please click on the “Register Now” box and follow the instructions and prompts. If you have any questions, send us an email to info@svpolicetraining.com. We respect and are truly committed to our fellow colleagues in this profession who are seeking this advanced and specialized training so you can expect a prompt response from us to your emails.
At Semper Veritas Police Training and Consulting, LLC., we take immense pride in doing everything that we can to give back to this noble profession that we have dedicated so much of our lives to and to help the next generation of brave warriors willing to do this heroic work so that their learning curve is much faster than ours was.