Advanced and Specialized Law Enforcement Courses
Upcoming Courses
These courses are designed for Florida sworn criminal justice officers. Contact your agency's training unit to register. (There is no registration form on this website for Advanced & Specialized classes). Officers outside of Hillsborough County will be placed on our waiting list and seated if possible.
This is not an annual schedule and it may change on a monthly basis as classes are requested by our local agencies, so check back with us often.
Date and Time: March 3-5, 2021, 0800 - 1700
Instructor: Command Presence LLC
Location: Hillsborough Community College Public Service Technology Building 2002 N 17th St. Tampa, FL
Enrollment: Limited to 22
Registration Deadline: February 24, 2021
Course Fee: Trust funded
In light of several high-profile encounters between police and citizens, there has been an increased demand for enhanced police training and reform. There is an ongoing national discussion about the topic of de-escalation, with many calling for mandatory police training on the topic. The challenge is defining exactly what de-escalation is, and more importantly, how should it be trained to increase both public and officer safety?
This course is founded upon empirical research that provides officers with tools and tactics intended to achieve the most desirable outcomes during law enforcement encounters. This course was designed by law enforcement practitioners, for law enforcement practitioners. This course balances the need to effectively engage with people in crisis with the need for officers to keep themselves and others safe. This course recognizes that de-escalation goes far beyond just effective communication skills, but rather takes a holistic approach to creating circumstances where people in crisis can be afforded the opportunity to de-escalate themselves, when time and conditions permit.
This highly interactive, small group discussion-based training is focused on defining de-escalation (what it is and what it isn’t), identifying people in crisis (through the innovative TEB Model), and enhancing decision-making when dealing with people in crisis. Through case study, video review, and “fishbowl” exercises, participants will leave the training with valuable skills to increase the probability of desirable outcomes during interactions with people in crisis.
Topics of Instruction include:
- Defining De-Escalation: What it Is and What it Isn’t
- Emotional intelligence: Knowing yourself so you can help others
- Person in crisis: A law enforcement dilemma
- Response tactics for best possible outcomes
- Delivering presentations that stick
- Designing effective de-escalation scenarios
- Implementation strategies
This is a Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission Trust-Funded Course for Region IX.
Officers in Region IX attend free of charge. In order to attend, all officers are required to process the appropriate paperwork through their respective agencies.
For more information, please contact: Sandra Franklin sfranklin21@hccfl.edu or 813.253.7952
Date and Time: March 22 - 26 & April 5 - 9, 2021 0800-1700 (80 hours)
Instructor: Mike Cotignola and Cadre
Location: Hillsborough Community College Public Service Technology Building 2002 N 17th St. Tampa, FL
Enrollment: Limited to 20
Registration Deadline: March 8, 2021
Course Fee: Trust funded
The CMS Defensive Tactics Instructor Course was organized and developed to enhance the knowledge, skills, and abilities of an individual to better prepare prospective officers to control subjects and defend themselves using appropriate Defensive Tactics in accordance with the Recommended Response to Resistance Matrix. The course is designed to teach basic recruit students their responsibilities for safe and efficient response to resistance.
Prerequisites: Instructor students should possess a General Instructor Certification or be eligible for and apply for the General Instructor Certification at the same time as the High-Liability Instructor Certification. Student applicants must also have 3 years experience.
Topics of instruction include:
- Legal Issues
- Instructor Techniques
- Use of Force/Response to Resistance Matrix
- Review/Recall and New Information
- Groundwork for Instruction
- Examples/Demonstration
- Instructor/Training Center Preparation
- Practice & Feedback
- Documentation
- Chemical Agent Lesson
- Student Preparation
- Evaluation & Remediation
- Practical & Scenario Exercises
Course Completion Requirements:
- Complete all practical exercises in the basic recruit curriculum with 100% successful completion.
- Complete written examination on the cognitive material provided in the basic recruit curriculum with a score of at least 85%.
This is a Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission Trust-Funded Course for Region IX. Officers in Region IX attend free of charge.
In order to attend, all officers are required to process the appropriate paperwork through their respective agencies.
For more information, please contact: Sandra Franklin sfranklin21@hccfl.edu or 813.253.7952
Date and Time: March 22 - 26, 2021 1000-1800 (40 hours), Practical day March 24, 2021 0800-2100
Instructor: Nick Dittman
Location: Hillsborough Community College Public Service Technology Building 2002 N 17th St. Tampa, FL
Enrollment: Limited to 22
Registration Deadline: March 8, 2021
Course Fee: Trust funded
This 40-hour course provides instruction in the principles and operation of police traffic radar & laser speed measurement devices. It is part of the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission Advanced Training Program and is one of a series of non-sequential general training programs.
This course is approved for salary incentive or mandatory retraining.
This course is designed for the law enforcement officer whose duties include speed enforcement to improve the officer’s effectiveness in traffic speed enforcement through the proper and efficient use of
police traffic radar and laser speed measurement devices. Students should possess sufficient experience and background in traffic speed enforcement prior to attending this course.
Topics of Instruction include:
- Concept of speed enforcement and its relationship to economics and safety
- History of radar & laser
- Principles of stationary/moving and same direction radar
- Principles of traffic laser devices
- Set-up and use of traffic speed measurement devices
- Target vehicle identification
- Major court rulings
- Field training & officer safety
*****Students must bring a face mask to wear on campus
This is a Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission Trust-Funded Course for Region IX.
Officers in Region IX attend free of charge.
In order to attend, all officers are required to process the appropriate paperwork through their respective agencies.
For more information, please contact: Sandra Franklin sfranklin21@hccfl.edu or 813.253.7952
Date and Time: May 25-28, 2021 0800-1700
Instructor: Brett Bartlett
Location: 2002 N 17th St. Tampa, FL 33605, Ybor Campus, Public Service Technology Building
Enrollment: Limited to 20
Registration Deadline: March 22, 2021
Course Fee: Trust funded
This course is part of the Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission (CJSTC) approved Specialized Training Program. The course intent is to provide instructors with the core knowledge, skills, and abilities to provide efficient and effective training to fellow criminal justice personnel in those skill or subject areas dictated by local need.
The General Instructor Refresher Course was organized and developed to provide refresher training for instructors who have allowed their certification to expire or did not obtain their General Instructor certification within four years of completing the Florida General Instructor Techniques Course.
Topics of instruction include:
- Training Liability: In this lesson, students will examine the liability issues affecting instructors. Topics include negligence and other tort claims, discrimination, sovereign immunity, failure to train, and ethics. Additionally, the certification requirements and responsibilities of a Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission Instructor will be discussed.
- Lesson Plan Development: This lesson is designed to re-familiarize the student with the lesson plan development for a course. Possessing this knowledge aids an instructor in the documentation and delivery of the material presented, including the illustration of the desired student performance.
- Facilitation Skills and Group Management: This lesson refreshes general skills necessary for facilitating both classroom and group work. The general instructor techniques illustrate how an instructor can handle student behavior.
Parking is located at the Palm Avenue Garage located on the corner of 9th Ave and Nuccio Parkway. Please park on the student side of the garage.
For more information, please contact: Sandra Franklin sfranklin21@hccfl.edu or 813.253.7952
Date and Time: April 5-9, 2021 0800-1700 (40 hours)
Instructor: Ed Judy Retired Pinellas Cty SO
Location: Hillsborough Community College, Public Service Technology Building, 2002 N 17th St. Tampa, FL 33605
Enrollment: Limited to 25
Registration Deadline: March 29, 2021
Course Fee: Trust funded
This course is part of the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commissions Advanced Training Program.
This course is designed to provide the patrol officer and investigator with limited experience in death and related injury investigations, and a general insight into investigative, legal and evidentiary considerations of this kind of investigation. This is a Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission Advanced Training Course. This 40-hour course is approved for Salary Incentive or Mandatory Retraining.
Topics of instruction include:
Initial Scene Investigation
Crime-Specific Investigations
Evidence Documentation, Handling, Collection & Preservation
Laboratory Evidence Analysis
Wound Identification Recognition
Medico-Legal Aspects
This is a Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission Trust-Funded Course for Region IX. Officers in Region IX attend free of charge.
In order to attend, all officers are required to process the appropriate paperwork through their respective agencies.
For more information, please contact: Sandra Franklin sfranklin21@hccfl.edu or 813.253.7952
Date and Time: April 12-14, 2021 0800-1700 (24 hours)
Instructor: Jerry Herren
Location: Hillsborough Community College Public Service Technology Building 2002 N 17th St. Tampa, FL
Enrollment: Limited to 22
Registration Deadline: March 29, 2021
Course Fee: Trust funded
Being able to determine deceptive responses through the observation of nonverbal clues and body reactions during an interview or interrogation can be a valuable tool for the perceptive investigator. During stressful interviews, individuals often “leak” autonomic behaviors that are difficult to control. This seminar presents instruction and demonstrations that teach students skills in reading behavioral signals of tempo, posture, breathing, gestures, other body movements that cannot be consciously controlled. The class provides students with information that should enhance their perceptual skills, thus, increasing their ability to recognize changes in behavior that often forecasts shifts in attitude and imminent disclosures, as well as, to assess deception and resistance. This is not a boring lecture seminar where participants are forced to take copious notes with minimal involvement. Rather, the program is conducted in a highly reactive setting, prompting dialog between the students and the instructor. Students are involved in numerous exercises in order to apply the techniques presented during instruction. This 24-hour course is approved for Mandatory Retraining only.
Topics of instruction include:
- How messages are transmitted through nonverbal as well as verbal means
- Body reactions often mean more than just what is seen
- Methods of overcoming suspect resistance during interview
- Changes in behavior often forecast shifts in attitudes on behalf of the person being interviewed
- How to become more adept in the assessing of deception
- Limitations of body language as cues to deceptions or indications of honesty
- Skills required of the interviewer
- Importance of rapport building
- Need to overcome mental barriers that inhibit effective listening
- Nonverbal communication in the total interview/interrogation process
- Physiological basis of communication
Parking is located at the Palm Avenue Garage located on the corner of 9th Ave and Nuccio Parkway. Please park on the student side of the garage.
For more information, please contact: Sandra Franklin sfranklin21@hccfl.edu or 813.253.7952
Date and Time: April 19-23, 2021 0800-1700
Instructor: Randy Keys
Location: Hillsborough Community College Public Service Technology Building 2002 N 17th St. Tampa, FL
Enrollment: Limited to 22
Registration Deadline: April 5, 2021
Course Fee: Trust funded
This 40-hour course is designed to provide criminal justice officers, even those with little experience, information regarding narcotics and dangerous drug investigations. This course will provide understanding of the problematic, legal, investigative, and evidentiary aspects of narcotic and dangerous drug investigations and how it relates to money laundering. Topics will include constitutional drug law, commonly abused drugs, confidential informants and sources, investigative strategies, undercover operations, clandestine methamphetamine labs, evidence collection, courtroom testimony and liability issues. This course will be accomplished entirely in the classroom. This course is directed towards the officer with limited or no experience for narcotics investigation. This course is approved for either Salary Incentive or Mandatory Retraining.
Topics of Instruction include:
- Basic investigative and interview techniques for conducting a drug investigation.
- How to analyze information when initiating and conducting a drug investigation.
- How to list and identify the most commonly abused drugs and their origins, street value, manufacture, packaging & smuggling.
- How to describe developmental utilization and control of confidential informants and confidential sources.
- The importance of accurately documenting all aspects of the investigation to ensure a safe investigation and successful prosecution.
- How to list and describe various investigative strategies, including but not limited to controlled buy, hand-to-hand buy, surveillance, wire taps, conspiracy and domestic interdiction.
- How to describe undercover operations planning, operations, risks involved and legal issues
This is a Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission Trust-Funded Course for Region IX. Officers in Region IX attend free of charge. In order to attend, all officers are required to process the appropriate paperwork through their respective agencies.
For more information, please contact: Sandra Franklin sfranklin21@hccfl.edu or 813.253.7952
Date and Time: May 3-7, 2021 0800-1700
Instructor: Al Danna
Location: Hillsborough Community College Public Service Technology Building 2002 N 17th St. Tampa, FL
Enrollment: Limited to 22
Registration Deadline: April 19, 2021
Course Fee: Trust funded
This is a Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission Advanced Training Course. This 40-hour course is approved for mandatory retraining or salary incentive. This course is designed to provide an overview of sex crimes investigations for the officer and investigator with limited experience in this area, and an understanding of the problematic, legal, investigative, and evidentiary aspects of sex crimes.
Students in this course will gain insight into the crimes, their impact on victims, the evidentiary aspects of adult sex crimes, legal rights of victims and the legal responsibility of law enforcement when investigating these crimes.
Topics Include:
- Recognizing sex abuse
- Note taking and report writing
- Responding to the scene
- Interviewing the suspect
- Collecting evidence
- Preparing successful prosecution
- Corroborating evidence
- Reviewing Florida statutes
This is a Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission Trust-Funded Course for Region IX. Officers in Region IX attend free of charge. In order to attend, all officers are required to process the appropriate paperwork through their respective agencies.
Parking is located in the Fernando Noriega, Jr. Palm Avenue STUDENT PARKING GARAGE located on the north side of 9th Avenue, between Nuccio Parkway and 13th Street. You will be given a parking pass the first day of class.
For more information, please contact: Sandra Franklin sfranklin21@hccfl.edu or 813.253.7952
Date and Time: May 10-14, 2021 0800-1700 (40 hours)
Instructor: Andy Baxter
Location: Hillsborough Community College Public Service Technology Building 2002 N 17th St. Tampa, FL
Enrollment: Limited to 22
Registration Deadline: April 26, 2021
Course Fee: Trust funded
This course is designed to enhance the officer’s knowledge, skills, and abilities to conduct investigative interviews and interrogations. This course will provide the officer with a general understanding of the techniques, methods, & principles for conducting investigative interviews & interrogations. Law enforcement and correctional officers will learn practical interviewing skills to apply in every investigation. Interviewing is an important phase of an investigation because through the interview process a majority of case information is obtained and cases are solved. The purpose of this course is to teach the knowledge, skills, techniques, and attitudes that will enable an officer to conduct effective interviews. A law enforcement investigator interviewing a homicide witness, a patrol officer interviewing a witness to a traffic crash or a domestic violence incident, and a correctional officer interviewing an inmate or probationer about possession of contraband can use the same techniques with effective results. This course is approved for Salary Incentive.
Topics of Instruction include:
- Interview & Interrogation Preparation
- Distinction Between Interview & Interrogation
- Proper Room Environment
- Factors Affecting a Subject’s Behavior
- Evaluating Attitudes
- Evaluating Nonverbal / Verbal Behavior
- Interviewing Juveniles
- Interviewing Victims of Sexual Assault
This is a Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission Trust-Funded Course for Region IX. Officers in Region IX attend free of charge.
In order to attend, all officers are required to process the appropriate paperwork through their respective agencies.
For more information, please contact: Sandra Franklin sfranklin21@hccfl.edu or 813.253.7952
Date and Time: May 25-28, 2021 0800-1700
Instructor: Safariland Training Group
Location: Walter C. Heinrich Training Center, 14063 County Road 39, Lithia, FL 33547
Enrollment: Limited to 15
Registration Deadline: May 10, 2021
Course Fee: Trust funded
See attached flyer for course details
Students must attend all 4 days. These are not separate classes.
For more information, please contact: Sandra Franklin sfranklin21@hccfl.edu or 813.253.7952