Course Overview:

Child abuse and child death cases continue to rise at alarming rates across the United States. There are unique challenges to the successful arrest and prosecution of suspects who commit these horrendous acts.

This class is designed for both patrol officers and investigators and addresses several aspects of child abuse and death investigations. This class includes recognizing patterns of abuse, injury identification, interviewing the child victim, offender profiling, and aspects of sexual assault on children. Throughout the class, several case studies will be presented that illustrate the various aspects of an investigation.

Students will also be provided with a death scene checklist that will assist them in obtaining vital information in the first few hours of a child's death investigation. Many of the investigative techniques offered in this course are based on the behavior of the child and of the abuser.

These techniques, as well as the methods presented in this course, can better prepare those to properly respond to allegations of child abuse, identify victims of child abuse, and present proper evidence documentation for cases that involve child abuse and neglect.

Topics Covered:

• Recognizing Injury Patterns

• The Difference Between Accident & Abuse

• Methods of Documentation

• Interviewing Child Victims

• Interviewing Suspects

• Investigating Child Sexual Assault

• Identifying the Mindset of Serial Child Killers

• Understanding Aspects of Child Development