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I often get asked about this topic...BEA training. Where to get it, how much does it cost, who to get it from, etc etc.
My answer is typically always the same. I list the various well established organizations and instructors as listed elsewhere in this section.
Occasionally additional seminars, annual re-certifications, industry get togethers are also held throughout the year in various places throughout the country. These are inherently invaluable as they keep us abreast of changing laws, industry standards, new ideas, technology, tactics, as well as keeping us legal where applicable. They also lend credibility to us as investigator's whenever our qualifications are called into question by anyone.
However, 1 area that gets overlooked are the qualifications of the trainer's. You have to understand that if placed in a defensive position in a court of law, you can produce diploma's and certificates all day long....but the obvious next step is who certified your trainer's ? In a major case your trainer's qualifications may and probably will be called into question...i.e.vicarious liability.
This point was driven home to me in 2006 when I attended my 1299/832 certification in Southern California. Part of that class was hand to hand combat training and proper handcuffing techniques. I distinctly remember 1 of the instructor's commenting that we had to master these skills so that if he was called into court in 1 of our cases he could back us up as having followed his training correctly.
In other words, don't place yourself in an indefensible position by just "certificate harvesting". Another dangerous misnomer out here is the misguided idea that "any kind of training, regardless of the source, is valuable". I can't even begin to describe the fallacies/liabilities of that belief. To me, that falls into the same category of the infamous criminal defense used by Nazi soldiers during war crime trials after WWII of "I was just following orders"... Anyway, before you sign up for a course ask yourself these questions before paying out monies for training fees and signing up for just any kind of training:
1) Can the trainer/organization stand up to a full scale criminal investigation ?
2) Who trained the trainer's ?
3) Who certified the trainer's to be trainer's ?
4) What verifiable qualifications do they possess to train anyone in anything ?
5) Always remember:
A) Anyone can claim anything at anytime anywhere....Proving those claims is another thing entirely different.
B) Always question everything:
who, what, where, when, why, and how ?
A qualified, confident trainer or industry professional organization wont mind professional inquiries into thier qualifications. Just please be aware of "Joe Schmuck's Bounty Hunting Academy".....
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River City Associates
Decatur, Al. 35601
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