Prosecutors

This course is for officers, investigators, and analysts who encounter cell phone evidence that includes information external to the phone. Class concepts include instruction on how to request, read, and analyze call detail records from cellular providers, as well as how to plot cellular site locations to determine the approximate position of a suspect during a given period. No special hardware or software is required. However, this course focuses heavily on analysis; as such, a strong working knowledge of Microsoft Excel is highly recommended.

Students are provided with a free copy of the National White Collar Crime Center's (NW3C) PerpHound tool, which assists in the plotting of call detail record locations.

This course promotes a multiagency approach to the problem of financial exploitation of senior citizens. Bringing together law enforcement personnel and adult protective services investigators, the course enhances students' investigative skills and interviewing techniques while facilitating networking and cooperation that can extend out of the classroom and into real cases. Topics include recognizing elder abuse, working with victims, and identifying perpetrators, as well as resources for investigation and community awareness. Students work together to conduct a mock investigation into a hypothetical case. 

This course provides the technical and legal information prosecutors need to see cases involving digital evidence through the entire criminal justice process, from seizure and extraction to admissibility to verdict. Topics include digital evidence commonly seized during the execution of a search warrant, issues specific to mobile phones, digital evidence stored remotely ("in the cloud"), and the processes investigators use to obtain this evidence, such as the interrogation of digital devices. There is a strong focus on case law, ethics, and other legal issues surrounding the collection and custody of digital evidence, as well as its use at trial. The course also examines new legislation like the CLOUD Act, which is reforming the digital evidence landscape just as rapidly as the ever-changing case law.

This course covers the skills investigators need to conduct successful online investigations involving social media. Topics include internet basics such as IP addresses and domains, an overview of currently popular social media platforms, and best practices for building an online undercover profile. Instructors demonstrate both open-source and commercially available investigative tools for social engineering, information gathering, and artifacts related to social media, as well as automated utilities to capture information and crawl websites.