Corrections Investigation

Just because offenders are behind bars doesn’t mean that crime stops. Corrections investigators need to have a broad understanding of several types of crime, how to identify it, how to identify, collect and preserve evidence, and how to present this evidence as a case. Various criminal activities will be reviewed, including drug crime, aggravated assault and homicide, sexual assault, and illegal contraband obtainment and distribution. This course will cover how to properly conduct a criminal investigation according to accepted best practices. Students will be exposed to identification techniques for developing latent fingerprints, body fluid identification and DNA collection, and proper crime scene documentation through photography. In addition to these traditional skills, because digital evidence is becoming more prevalent in prisons, this course will also introduce investigators to open-source tools that can be used to extract digital evidence from cell phones as well as captured drones to be used in investigations.