REGIONAL COUNTERDRUG TRAINING ACADEMY

CLANDESTINE LAB INVESTIGATIONS
(Formerly: Meth & other Clandestine Lab Investigations)

Length: 5 days

Designed for: The Law Enforcement Officer who will be involved or is currently involved with drug investigation duties involving clandestine labs to include PCP, MDMA, GHB, Meth and Indoor Grow responsibilities .

Prerequisites: This course is a prerequisite for a Lab Certification course.

Certification: This course is POST certified in the states of Mississippi and Georgia and accepted for certification in other states.

Description: This five (5) day course incorporates training that will familiarize participants with essential information to enable them to successfully recognize and overcome the hazards involved with investigating illegal drug labs, to include recognizing the key indicators by which lab operators attempt to conceal their activities from law enforcement. Further be able to successfully articulate in court the process/synthesis, equipment, and activities of lab operators.

Topics covered will enable the students to:

•  Understand the synthesis of methamphetamine by actual hands-on participation in the extraction of Pseudoephedrine from cold medications and other products

•  Understand the history and current situation of clandestine drug labs in the U.S.

•  Learn how to initiate and develop a case through investigation, issuance of a search warrant, which will conclude with the seizure of the lab

•  Recognize the dangers, the physical hazards, and the toxicology of the chemicals

•  Identify the characteristics of hydroponic grows and what equipment is available for their detection including the manufacturing of hashish and honey oil

•  All students will be placed into teams for surveillance on Wednesday night( Each student should bring appropriate clothing for outdoor surveillance) for a practice exercise to obtain visual, audio, and material facts of a clandestine lab for inclusion in a written affidavit for a search warrant

•  Become an expert witness in court along with writing a legally sound affidavit for a search warrant based on the course material and the Wednesday night surveillance. The search warrant must be written to successfully complete the course.

•  Incorporate a Drug Endangered Children program into the community

•  Understand the federal combat meth act log books on pseudoephedrine sales, to include electronic date base monitoring and analysis of information

•  Know current international threats that potentially affect meth & other drug trends