I just finished the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s, Environmental Crimes-Level III course (that is a mouthful).
I wanted to say, it is an excellent course. The lead instructor is Clabe Polk of DEP. It reinforces my experience, so far, that environmental crimes are a bit different than anything else. Even as a Level III course, you are just beginning to get into the technical aspects of how the environmental crime statutes relate/ tie into the Florida Administrative Code (FAC).
Kathy Martinez, Special Agent, and Tracey Hartman, a DEP Attorney, presented a block on search warrants. It was the best presentation on search warrants I have ever attended. Search warrants are kinda strange thing in law enforcement. Lots of cops, even Detectives, will tell you about when you need one or what it takes to get one. The funny thing is, if you as these same folks if they have ever personally written one, they will tell you “no.” Both of the instructors for this block on search warrants, clearly had a lot of first hand experience.
The case also provides a fairly detailed walk through of an environmental crimes case. This walk through includes a real scene and hands on sampling.
Tymn Rice, with the Florida DEP, provides a great instruction block on the basics of sampling. He has the rare gift of being a scientist, but being able to relate things in common sense terms.
William Martin, of DEP’s Site Investigation team, taught a block on Florida Geology and soil/groundwater sampling. He was a dynamic speaker with the same gift to break science down to common sense terms. His entire team is very skilled and willing to teach and/or help law enforcement.
Lt. Tim Gorman with DEP taught several short instructional blocks. These blocks did a good job of tying in science, safety, and real world law enforcement.
I highly recommend this course to any law enforcement officer assigned to environmental crimes investigations!
