I am currently teaching arrest, search, and seizure to our trooper recruits. This is the basic course required by TCLEOSE (only 27 hours including the test). Obviously, it can't cover a lot of technical nuances. The class is split 1/3 former officers, 2/3 no law enforcement experience at all. This is fairly typical. As prosecutors, what would you want included in the course in the way of special pointers? I am open to suggestions. You can post them here or send them separately to janette.ansolabehere@txdps.state.tx.us.

If they are investigating a burglary and there is broken glass at the point of entry. Please 1) collect it, and 2) test it against any suspect they might arrest.

We had a recent case were there was blood found and it was collected, but it never went anywhere. Something as simple as blood typing (of course, defense counsel would have wanted DNA) would have gone a long way towards making a case so strong the defendant may have pled guilty. As it was we just had to deal with the lack of testing, although the other evidence convicted him anyway.

As is mentioned in another thread, let them know that right after Miranda in importance is Stanbury v. California (if they want to avoid the effects of Miranda). I'm not sure how best to explain Stanbury to them, but at least try. Let them know about poisonous trees and how to avoid them. And be sure they understand sec. 3 and sec. 5 of art. 38.22. If they get those three principles mastered along with what probable cause and reasonable suspicion mean and how to draft the average affidavit for a warrant, I'd say you will have accomplished a great deal. Of course the Supreme Court takes years to teach us the same things.

I want Officers to understand that arresting everyone in the car without any type of further investigation when they find contraband can make my job difficult. They need to understand that I need evidence of an affirmative link to somebody.

I recently dismissed a case in which the Officer saw what he believed to be a container of Anhydrous Ammonia in the back seat of a car with a driver and a passenger in the front passenger seat. He arrested both occupants but did nothing to tie the container to the passenger.

I mean, heck, at least ask the suspects who it belongs to. Better yet, dust the container for finger prints. That also goes for baggies with drugs in them.

Thanks for the responses to my question. Please keep 'em coming! I plan to go through all of them with the class.

Stress that Miranda is only for custodial interrogation, and that an officer will get a lot more information if they let the suspect talk instead of telling him to wait for his warnings. Too many times I see a suspect on the side of the road start to confess and the officer says, "Wait. Don't say anything until I read you this." Be sure they understand what custodial interrogation means.

Tell them that when taking a written statement from a witness or a suspect, don't just give them a statement form and tell them to "write what you know." I've seen instances where officers actually gave the statement forms to witnesses to take home, fill out, and drop off with the dispatcher upon completion. Tell them to talk to them, ask questions, ask follow-up questions, get all the details, help type out the statement if neccessary and, above all, LEARN TO BE METICULOUS. In a former life as a defense lawyer in a civil firm, I had a senior partner that gave me the best advice that anyone's ever given me with respect to the practice of law: "You've got to be meticulous." Whether it pertains to investigating, report writing, or questioning witnesses, you simply cannot have too many details.

Please make them all a copy of Alpert's "Blood Will Tell" article and ask them to read it. Get them to practice what they need to do when they have that first mandatory blood draw after a fatality with alcohol involved.I can't tell you how many cases I've seen that have problems because of the way the officer handles the Defendant or waits too long to locate the driver who has been halo flighted to another jurisdiction.It really makes my cases harder when my blood draw is 3 hours after the accident.

I teach the same material at our academy. If you would like, I can e-mail the presentations and exam. I have discovered that writing a tough multiple choice exam on that topic is more difficult than I had thought because the fact situations drive the answers.

Tell them that the waiver of rights, not just the warnings, has to be on the face of a custodial written statement. Also, that the reading of the rights (and preferably the waiver) has to be on the recording of the oral statement.
I know those both seem to be very elementary suggestions, but I am frequently amazed by how many jurisdictions still use custodial statement forms that don't contain the waiver. I seem to find a lot of officers who learn these two things only after the suppression hearing or when I'm trying to explain to them why the great confession they got won't be heard by the jury!

Is there a way to have the waiver request printed on the Troopers' 38.22 card they read? I've had cases where confessions were obtained by troopers during custodial interrogation on the roadside and on video but no waiver was explicitly requested because the troopers said, "It wasn't on my Miranda card."

Which, of course, reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the fact that the purpose of the Miranda warning is to obtain a voluntary, intelligent and knowing waiver of a constitutional right.

In DWI cases where the Officer has a Mobile Video Camera and is wired for sound please ask them to remember they are on camera and to be aware of when the sound is on. I'm talking about trying to prevent everyone from knowing the "chit- chat" that goes on during the taping that has nothing to do with the investigation of the case. I've have heard everything from comments with other officers about last nights TV, gripes about stupid supervisors, comments on how cute a car passenger is. . . These non-investigative conversations put a real damper on my desire to sponsor these officers. The tape I just saw contains 20 minutes of the officer on camera, after the defendant is arrested and in his patrol car, chatting with (flirting with) the female passenger that was riding with the Defendant. I would have much preferred to hear them talk about where the Defendant had been and where he was drinking then hear the officer's views on where is the best place to live in our County. There is a good reason why the remote microphone's have an on and off switch. Thanks

Encourage officers to ask DWI suspect the questions needed to provide the technical supervisor to extrapolate. Then encourage them to write the answers down somewhere so they remember them later.

Teach them the difference between evading a peace officer(legal) and evading arrest/detention (illegal). Make sure they know that there must be a legal basis for arrest or detention or the statute is not violated.

In terms of an overview, impress on the recruits that every case should be approached as if there is going to be a trial on the matter. Thus, one of the most important things they can do is prepare a complete and accurate report about EVERYTHING they notice and do; no detail is unimportant. They will be making hundreds of stops and arrests, and they will begin to blur if they don't have that report to jog their memory and memorialize that one event...that may got to trial.

In terms of an overview, impress on the recruits that every case should be approached as if there is going to be a trial on the matter. Thus, one of the most important things they can do is prepare a complete and accurate report about EVERYTHING they notice and do; no detail is unimportant. They will be making hundreds of stops and arrests, and they will begin to blur if they don't have that report to jog their memory and memorialize that one event...that may go to trial.

I had a DPS officer in a case not too long ago that was so intelligent, professional and articulate, that I told him that he should apply for the Texas Rangers. He was not all knowing, but he came off the way a juror wants to picture the way a police officer should be. I would add that an officer's attitude and preparedness could win a tough case.

Make them read the transportation code. There are too many DPS tickets for offenses they "learned" from another trooper that the legislature never bothered to put in the transportation code.

I will try to email you a copy of the paper I have used over the last 20 years - "How to Take a Confession that Will Make a D.A. Smile". Let me know if you don't get it.

Additional things to tell them:

1. A picture is worth a 1000 words - take pictures (even if you don't spend the money to develop them, have film rolls in the evidence room) and make videos/digital pictures.

2. Don't run off the witnesses - when they drive up on a scene, some officers run everybody off - identify them first ... if all else fails, just read license plate numbers from parked cars into your radio.

3. Remember, when dealing with a citizen that unless a felony conviction results, they may be a juror in the future. Over the years I have repeatedly had trouble with jurors and potential jurors who had an attitude about police testimony which started with something as simple as a stop for speeding ... you don't have to be rude or abusive everytime (perhaps any time). In small rural counties this can be a killer for many cases.

4. Never forget the dramatic element ... a picture of a bloody Teddy Bear in the floor boards of a car may not have a whole lot of impact as to getting a guilty verdict, but it can potentially pile on the years - if you see something at a crime scene or in a crime that makes you mad - photograph it, record it and/or note it in your reports. It can make a judge or juror mad and that is what its about.