Officer Drug Interdiction Training
The investigation of illegal drug activity is the responsibility of both uniformed, and plain clothed, officers within any law enforcement agency. The patrol, or beat, officer is in a very unique and important position in relation to identifying criminal drug activity.
After-all, they are the “foot-soldiers” who oftentimes have first contact with suspicious people or situations.
Understanding the essentials of Drug Interdiction, and those who are involved in drug trafficking is imperative for all law enforcement personnel at all levels within your department. Expert drug interdiction training is a must; if you want to have an effective plan in place to combat the problem.
The Casual/Consensual Encounter
The consensual encounter is a versatile investigative technique for the uniformed and plain clothes law enforcement officer. This basic and lawfully supported technique continues to be the basis for use in the interdiction environment as well as friendly police citizen contacts.
Using the consensual encounter technique will enhance your interdiction investigation and lead to successful seizures of controlled substances and illicit assets and currency. Officer safety should never take a backseat in police work, especially in a consensual-encounter-type setting, and it must always be at the forefront of any encounter we initiate. In this type of setting, we are always approaching the unknown.
There will never be a dope load, money load, or bad guy worth getting ourselves, our partners, innocent citizens, or even the offender hurt.
Conducting a consensual encounter should always be based on a person’s conduct and behavior and never on his race, age, gender, or national origin.
If we go to work with our blinders on and use age, race, gender, or national origin as a criteria for selecting people to engage in friendly noncoercive encounters, then we will miss half of the people involved in criminal activity. We will also open ourselves up to scrutiny in a court of law, giving the defense plenty of ammunition to have the case dismissed.
