NW HIDTA Sponsored Training Courses

Upcoming Training

December

INTRODUCTION TO CRITICAL THINKING & STRUCTURED ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES

DECEMBER 16, 2025

This course is designed to enhance the ability of criminal analysts to evaluate information or evidence in a thorough and systematic manner. By utilizing Structured Analytical Techniques students will be able to externalize the analytic reasoning process. This provides students the ability to describe their reasoning process to others, to work in analytic teams and make it easier for analysts to give briefs and write reports. The majority of this course will be spent working through different exercises using these techniques: Analysis of Competing Hypotheses, Key Assumptions Check, the CARVER Matrix, Red Hat Analysis, Red Team Analysis and Structured Brainstorming.

FLYER

January

COUNTER-UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS FUNDAMENTALS

JANUARY 6TH, 2026

Course Description: This course aims to equip narcotics officers with the crucial knowledge and abilities needed to effectively address the escalating threat posed by Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in drug trafficking and associated criminal activities. Upon completion, participants will possess a thorough understanding of the various ways UAS are being utilized, including their specific capabilities and inherent limitations. They will develop the critical skill of recognizing indicators of UAS activity within their operational environment, comprehend the complex legal and regulatory framework governing UAS operation and the implementation of counter-UAS measures. The course will emphasize the importance of identifying and potentially exploiting vulnerabilities in UAS operations for interdiction purposes. Ultimately, officers will understand how to seamlessly integrate CUAS strategies into their existing narcotics enforcement efforts, enhancing their overall operational effectiveness. Topics covered in the CUAS Fundamentals course will include:

Fundamentals of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) technology
UAS types and capabilities
Laws and regulations for UAS
UAS applications for law enforcement
Fundamentals of CUAS technology and processing

FLYER

REGISTRATION

February

DRUG TRAFFICKING IN TRANSPORTATION AND SERVICE INDUSTRIES 3-DAY COURSE

FEBRUARY 25-27, 2026

The purpose of drug trafficking in transportation and service industries operations is to target criminal organizations, groups, or gangs who transit illegal drugs, bulk currency, and people throughout the United States by way of legitimate commercial transportation enterprises. The course deals with investigative methodologies that involve the detection and interdiction of illicit drugs and other contraband items (e.g., weapons, bulk currency, and people, etc.) that flow through the nation’s transportation hubs (e.g., airports, commercial trains and buses, commercial parcel/package and freight shipping companies). Moreover, drug and contraband interdiction investigations are designed to disrupt and curtail illicit activities at hotels/motels, self-service storage facilities, and rental vehicle companies. Any activities that are directly related to illegal drug distribution, illegal currency transportation and people, and/or other contraband transactions that are reasonably deemed a threat to public safety and to the health of concerned citizens are targeted for further investigation. The course will emphasize the importance of establishing and maintaining effective liaison with civilian counterparts (owners/managers/employees). The course also addresses investigation techniques specific to self-storage businesses, the storage of dangerous items, which includes items that terrorists may store in preparation for attacks on U.S. soil are comprehensively addressed (e.g., quantities of fuel, agricultural or industrial chemicals, explosives, blasting caps or fuses, weapons or ammunition, flight manuals, truck driving school manuals, or other similar materials).

Topics Included

Consensual Encounter Techniques
Knock and Talks Investigations
Storage Unit Investigations
Hotel-Motel Interdiction
Stash House Interdiction
Commercial Bus Interdiction
Passenger Train Interdiction
Rental Car Interdiction
Airport Interdiction
Drug Parcel Interdiction
Utilization of K9
Legal Review/Case Law Update

MCTC FLYER

March

ADVANCED VEHICLE CONTRABAND CONCEALMENT

MARCH 5-6, 2026

This course trains personnel to quickly detect hidden compartments in vehicles used to smuggle drugs, weapons, money, and other illegal commodities through expert-led presentations, videos, and real-life case studies. Attendees will be equipped with the skills to systematically search vehicles to disrupt and hinder criminal organizations’ ability to transport contraband. Participants learn proven techniques and understand counter-measures that are being applied by smugglers to hinder governmental efforts by defeating X-ray equipment, density detection devices, fiber scopes, as well as K-9 units. Topics Include: • Drive-train components - Includes the running engine, transmission, axles and drive shafts • Floor and roof compartments • Wall compartments - Includes engine bay • Firewall • Rocker panels, Seats, Dashboards • Tires, Fuel tanks, containers • Doors • Bumpers • Other components – Battery, radiator, fluid

FLYER

April

HIGHWAY DRUG INVESTIGATIONS FOR PATROL 3-DAY COURSE

APRIL 13-15, 2026

The primary purposes of Highway Drug Investigations are to detect, interdict, and disrupt the continual flow of illicit drugs on the nation’s highways. It is where the struggle for superiority of the nation’s highways takes place; a contest between uniformed police officers and the most prolific and dangerous illicit drug traffickers in the world (i.e., Transnational Drug Trafficking Organizations). Emphasis is placed on Mexican drug trafficking organizations, the smuggling routes, transportation corridors, and distribution networks in the United States. Confronting the threat to national security, highway drug interdiction operatives stand as the vanguard in the nation’s second line of defense against those who would export illicit activity, lawlessness, violence, and corruption into the country. Moreover, comprehensive post-interdiction investigative methods and techniques are emphasized in order to further identify and debilitate ongoing illicit drug-trafficking schemes that have a nexus to highway drug interdiction stops (e.g., conspiracy investigations, government controlled deliveries of contraband, and other investigative methodologies designed to advance a criminal investigation).

Topics Included

Modus operandi of drug trafficking organizations
Detection of drug-laden vehicles
Floor and Roof compartments
Wall Compartments; Includes Engine Bay Firewall and Seats
Weapons trafficking
Vehicular contraband concealment
Gathering of strategic drug intelligence
Bulk currency seizures and investigations
Effective strategies designed to disrupt the use of the nation’s highway as a delivery/profit gaining system for illicit drugs and weapons

MCTC FLYER

Training Suggestions