The training will provide community corrections officers with practical investigative skills that they can employ to enhance caseload supervision and ultimately public safety. The training is geared towards: Probation and Parole Officers, Supervisors, Administrators and Trainers. The public safety and behavior monitoring capabilities of probation and parole officers can be used to enhance their community supervision efforts through the development of competencies related to recognized investigative techniques. Supervision activities such as interviewing, surveillance, collection and preservation of evidence etc. are all tasks often associated with community supervision, but are seldom included, or given adequate coverage, in basic training programs for officers. This two-day training is designed to provide community corrections officers with advanced investigative skills that will enhance their skills by providing additional supervision tools.

At the completion of the two day training, participants will be able to:

• List six investigative methods that can be used to enhance an officer’s community supervision skills.
• Describe the functions and benefits of surveillance as it relates to offender supervision process and how surveillance findings can be used in conjunction with other investigative skills to monitor offender behavior.
• Explain the importance of proper evidence collection and preservation skills in regards to criminal and/or administrative proceedings and discuss the reasons that evidence can be ruled inadmissible due to improper handling.
• Define the terms: Investigative Report, Observational Distortions, Articulation of Facts, and list at least 7 report writing pitfalls.
• Describe the appropriate uses of interview and interrogation techniques and how they are used to obtain/verify factual information and determine deceptive statements
• List at least 5 general sources of information available to community corrections officers that will improve their ability to gather and verify information.

For years community corrections professionals have had little if any participation in emergency planning, either for their own agency or for participation an a community wide emergency. Recent terrorist acts such as the assaults of 9-11-01, and natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina have clearly demonstrated the vulnerabilities of community corrections agencies, as well as the valuable resources they can bring a community during an emergency. This seminar is will focus training participants in how to develop the emergency plans for their agency and participate in community-wide emergency planning. This training is geared towards: Administrators, Supervisors, Emergency Planners and Training Personnel The training will provide participants with a the practical knowledge and skills to prepare their agencies for an in-house emergency and to participate in a community-wide disaster response.
At the completion of this seminar participants will be able to:

• Define the following: Natural disasters, Man-made disasters, and Terrorist Events.
• Conduct an agency and a related community vulnerability impact audit and reflect these findings in emergency plan development.
• Participate in the development of a comprehensive agency (in-house) emergency plan and collaborate with other agencies in participating in a community-wide emergency response.
• Define the terms Prevention, Mitigation, Response and Recovery.
• Design and emergency preparedness training protocol for all agency staff.
• Develop initial emergency response procedures for and in-house emergency.
• Create protocols for the supervision of offenders during a community wide emergency.
• Devise controls that ensure that necessary emergency operations are covered.
• Develop family response protocols for emergency events concerning agency activities.

Since shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 and the subsequent events at Virginia Tech, our nation continues to experience knee jerk responses to school safety. But one of the most ignored areas in violence prevention is identifying suicidal behavior in teens. In a report by the FBI about school shooters, it was found that almost all of the school shooters were suicidal at the times of their acts. In fact, more teens commit suicide than perpetrate acts of lethal violence. Yet few schools or agencies have programs to teach teachers, parents, criminal justice professionals, and students how to recognize suicidal behavior in teens.

The supervision of juvenile offenders in the community puts probations officers in contact with many suicidal or potentially suicidal juveniles. Since these troubled kids not only pose a danger to them, but also to the community, probation officers need to be familiar with suicide risk factors, warning signs, and intervention strategies. This workshop will stress the interrelated roles between the schools, parents, human services, and criminal justice agencies in identifying and reducing threats posed by suicidal behavior to the individual student and the community. The training is geared towards: Probation and Juvenile Service Officers, Supervisors, Administrators and Trainers.

At the completion of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Explain the scope and impact of the teen suicide problem in the U.S. and how it can impact community supervision.
• Identify teen suicide risk factors and warning signs.
• Describe the methods of intervention that are available to an officer who is dealing with a suicidal teen.
• Use techniques for evaluating a teenager for suicidal risks.
• Describe the sources of information that are available to an officer to determine whether a teen is suicidal.

Community supervision of probationers requires officers to work with them in the office, in the field and sometimes in correctional facilities. Some of these probationers have the potential for dangerous behaviors, which can jeopardize the safety of officers. Among the risks posed by offenders is being involved in a lethal violence incident or being taken hostage. This workshop is designed to provide participants with information and techniques that can be used to help identify potential crisis situations and employ corresponding survival techniques.

This training will provide community corrections personnel with information concerning crisis survival techniques that will enable them to act appropriately should they encounter a crisis situation in their office, field or in a correctional facility. This training is geared towards: Probation Officers, Support Staff, Supervisors, Administrators and Trainers

At the completion of this training, participants will be able to:

• List the types of crisis situations that are likely to be encountered by community corrections personnel.
• Discuss how crisis can be prevented.
• Describe the 4 Preliminary (Tactical) Responses to crisis Incidents.
• Explain the 7 Principles of Hostage Negotiations.
• Describe the primary concern of most hostages.
• Define Terms: Transference, Closure, Situational Psychosis, Stockholm Syndrome, & Humanization.
• Explain how to prepare for a crisis situation.
• List Survival Techniques (“do s and don’t s”).
• Determine how to access your survivability efforts.

This training will provide participants with information concerning the dynamics of School Violence and provide them with information on how to prevent, mitigate, respond to and recover from an incident of school violence. The training is geared towards: Probation Officers, Supervisors, Administrators, Trainers, School Administrators/Teachers, Local Law Enforcement and School Resource Officers.

Since the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999, our schools and police agencies have engaged many strategies to prevent school violence. But one of the most ignored areas in school violence prevention is the role of the juvenile probation officer. The supervision of juvenile offenders in the community puts probation officers in contact with many troubled kids, and influences surrounding them, that may pose a danger to schools or the community. This workshop will discuss the dynamics of school violence and the interrelated roles between the schools, parents, human services, and probation agencies in school violence prevention. It will also provide participants with a working knowledge of the Threat Assessment Process.

At the completion of this training, participants will be able to:

• Describe the impact of recent school shootings on the Criminal Justice and Education Systems in the U.S.
• Explain the role of a community corrections officer in conducting a threat assessment and preventing school violence.
• List the causes of violent behavior.
• Outline the pathways to a rampage.
• Define the terms: Threat Assessment and Profiling and explain the difference.
• Distinguish between Low, Medium and High Risk Threats when given a case study.
• Describe the steps you should take if you feel that someone under your supervision poses a threat to a school or the community.

This training will provide participants with an overview of information that will assist their agencies in adapting their existing emergency plans to include planning for and responding to terrorist situations. The training is geared towards: Administrators, Supervisors, Emergency Planners and Training Personnel.

As integral partners in maintaining public safety, community corrections managers and personnel play an important role in the war against terrorism. From building safety and security to sharing intelligence information with other criminal justice agencies, the anti-terrorism role of community corrections agencies cannot be understated. This workshop will assist participants in identifying the activities that they and their agency can undertake in preventing, mitigating and responding to terrorist acts.

At the completion of this session participants will be able to:

• Define the term terrorism discuss the scope and goals of terrorist activities.
• Explain three major operational considerations when a community corrections agency is impacted by a terrorist event or other large scale disaster.
• Identify the resources that a community corrections agency can offer to the community during a terrorist incident.
• Describe the process of pre-determining an agency response capabilities.
• Define the term and discuss the issues surrounding “Self Dispatched” Staff.
• Identify facility vulnerabilities and key emergency planning strategies related to terrorism.
• Explain the importance of the intelligence and interagency communications in regards to anti-terrorist activities.
• Develop a post seminar action plan for enhancing emergency planning for terrorist situations.