Drafting Search Warrants in Narcotic Cases Lesson Plan
Simplifying a Complicated Process: The law surrounding search warrants is everchanging and can appear daunting. Brian Surber has spent 25 years as a narcotics officer, drug prosecutor, and legal advisor to a narcotics agency. Brian’s two (2) day class on drafting search warrants prepares officers to draft not just legally sufficient warrants (and supporting affidavits), but to generate output on par with the most elite of operators from the most renown agencies in the world.
Course Objective: Students will learn the principles behind the requirements of a search warrant in simple terms. More importantly, students will learn to both capture defects in warrants and improve warrant drafting from the perspective of best practices. Students will take the information learned and apply it practically to improve a search warrant. Further, resources will be provided to students to use in the future to include checklists, summaries, digital templates/examples, and sample legal briefs to counter common attacks on warrants and the officers who prepare them.
Instructional Outline:
I. Opening Remarks
II. Practical Exercise: Students are presented with an affidavit with multiple defects (some fatal, some not, and multiple areas for improvement). The students review the affidavit to see what defects are found, suggestions, etc. This serves as the foundation of the class.
III. Lecture:
a. Background on the Fourth Amendment.
b. Purpose of a search warrant.
c. Training and experience:
i. Why this is important.
ii. What is important.
iii. How to articulate the same in an affidavit.
d. Probable cause:
i. The definition and evaluation thereof.
ii. How to articulate probable cause.
iii. Staleness (what it means and addressing it in affidavits).
iv. The use of “common practices” in affidavits.
e. The utilization of informants (the history of informants with Aguilar/Spinelli, the current law under Illinois v. Gates e legal aspects of confidential informants, named informants, accomplices, and witnesses).
f. Particularity:
i. Describing the place to be searched.
ii. Describing the items to be seized.
g. Pitfalls and potential liabilities in drafting affidavits.
h. How to organize the information and draft a quality affidavit.
i. Addressing warrants beyond structures:
i. Cell phones.
ii. Trackers.
iii. Section 2703 (stored communications and Carpenter issues).
IV. Practical Exercise: Utilization of a checklist in evaluating and proofreading an affidavit to capture the most common defects.
V. Practical Exercise: Demonstration on how the checklist would improve and capture the defects in the mock affidavit from the beginning of class, and demonstration of what the improved affidavit would look like. Brian will also take an warrant and affidavit submitted by an attendee and reformat it based on principles addressed in class to demonstrate the visual differences as a Before and After.
VI. Practical Exercise: Students will use the material and checklist in to improve their affidavits and warrants.
Take Home Resources: Quick references related to search warrant law, a checklist for capturing defects, numerous digital templates, and stock legal briefs addressing common challenges in search warrants.
Guarantee: If the attendee does not feel that his or her understanding of search warrants is vastly improved or warrant drafting is not substantially improved, Brian will give a full refund.
Warrantless Search and Seizure Lesson Plan
Simplifying the Fourth Amendment Through a Systematic Approach: The Fourth Amendment is the most litigated piece of law in human history. Brian Surber has spent 25 years as a narcotics officer, drug prosecutor, and legal advisor to a narcotics agency – his entire career has centered around searches and seizures. Brian’s class on warrantless search and seizure is not a regurgitation of search warrant exceptions. Rather, the class focuses on a simplification of Fourth Amendment law by a systematic approach so that officers understand not only the litany of exceptions, but are prepared to encounter virtually any Fourth Amendment issue in the field.
Course Objective: Students will learn the basic principles of the Fourth Amendment in simplified terms. The common search warrant exceptions will be discussed in detail and officers will learn to document the justifications for searches and seizures. Further, resources will be provided to students to use in the future to include checklists, sand reporting templates.
Instructional Outline:
I. Opening Remarks
II. Lecture:
a. Background on the Fourth Amendment.
b. The Importance of Training and experience:
i. Why this is important.
ii. What is important.
iii. How to articulate the same in reports.
c. Probable cause:
i. The definition and evaluation thereof.
ii. How to articulate probable cause.
iii. Staleness (what it means and addressing it in affidavits).
iv. The use of “common practices” in affidavits.
d. Reasonable Suspicion:
i. The court definition
ii. The Stop
iii. The Frisk
e. Search Warrant Exceptions:
i. Exigencies
ii. The Vehicle Exception
iii. Search Incident to Arrest
iv. Plain View
v. Cell Phones and Trackers
vi. Inventory
vii. Open Field
f. Consents
i. Background on consent
ii. Authority to consent
iii. The scope of consent Pitfalls and potential liabilities in drafting affidavits.
iv. Factors supporting voluntary consents
III. Practical Exercise: Officers will be shown how do document actions related to the Fourth Amendment in a report.
IV. Practical Exercise: Officers will witness a mock direct and cross examination for a motion to suppress evidence seized on a warrantless search.
Take Home Resources: Quick references related to the Fourth Amendment, a pocket guide for Fourth Amendment law, an exhaustive list of voluntary consent factors, digital reporting templates, and stock legal briefs addressing common challenges in warrantless searches and seizures.
Guarantee: If the attendee does not feel that his or her understanding of the Fourth Amendment is vastly improved or his or her ability to articulate the same is not substantially improved, Brian will give a full refund.
Report Writing and Courtroom Testimony Lesson Plan
Improvement Via Professionalism: Right or wrong, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges evaluate an officer’s competence by the quality of his or her report – reports absolutely reflect professionalism. The same could be said about courtroom testimony. Brian Surber has spent 25 years as a narcotics officer, drug prosecutor, and legal advisor to a narcotics agency. He understands prosecutors’ needs from reports and testimony while also appreciating the challenges of being a police officer. Brian’s two (2) day class on report writing absolutely prepares officers to draft reports on par with the best operators in America while also providing fundamental principles and tips to testify more effectively.
Course Objective: Students will learn the identify the crucial aspects of a report and how to include them. Further, every officer will learn how to testify as an expert witness and will create an exhibit outlining his or her expert qualifications (regardless of experience level) and resources will be provided to students to use in the future to including digital templates for a number of reporting incidents. As to testifying, students will learn the principles of effective testimony and observe those principles in practice.
Instructional Outline:
I. Opening Remarks
II. Lecture on Report Writing: There will be a number of topics covered including,
a. The purpose of Report Writing,
b. The Use of Language,
c. The Report’s Preliminary Outline,
d. Addressing the Factual Defense -Capturing Relevant Information,
e. Capturing Information Often Omitted from Reports,
f. Addressing the Legal Defense,
g. Use of 4th Amendment Resources to Improve Report Writing,
h. Organizing Information (to Communicate),
i. Formatting Techniques to Enhance Reports,
j. Making the Officer an Expert Witness,
k. Utilization of Checklist for Aspects of a Report.
III. Practical Exercise: Students will be presented with two different reports on the same incident to visually compare the difference when using the principles discussed in class.
IV. Practical Exercise: One of the reports submitted by a student will be updated using principles discussed in class to visually demonstrate the utility of methods discussed in class.
V. Lecture on Courtroom Testimony: There will be a number of topics covered including,
a. Basics in Testifying, Preparing to Testify,
b. Recurring Pitfalls in Testifying (and Avoiding Them).
VI. Practical Exercise: Students will participate in or observe a mock direct examination.
VII. Practical Exercise: Students will participate in or observe a mock attack (cross examination) on a search warrant.
VIII. Practical Exercise: Students will participate in or observe a mock attack (cross examination) on a suspect’s confession.
Take Home Resources: Quick references related to report writing along with numerous digital templates for reporting instances.
Guarantee: If the attendee does not feel that his or her ability to draft reports is substantially improved along with improving as witness, Brian will give a full refund.