“The degree to which profits from the drug trade are directed to finance terrorist activities is of paramount concern to our nation and the DEA.”   -Administrator Asa Hutchinson, Drug Enforcement Administration

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This course is designed for patrol officers, counter-terrorism officers, special agents, narcotics officers, highway interdiction officers, state troopers, investigators and any law enforcement officers interested in identifying drug smugglers and terrorists regardless of rank for one simple reason:  The interdiction of drugs is often the beginning of an investigation rather than the final goal.

This is an advanced course in highway drug and criminal interdiction taught by two of the foremost experts in the Nation. No other course offers the experience and knowledge that will be shared by these instructors over the course of two days.  It all starts with the patrol officer.  We all have had hunches about drug couriers, even who they are, but how many times have we been behind a suspect and just let them go because we didn't think we had enough to stop them for?  This course will teach you how to identify irrefutable probable cause, how to make the stop with officer safety and survival being paramount and know where to look for hidden compartments.  It will cover the latest court cases in relation to search and seizure, case law relating to motor vehicle stops and teach proven field interview techniques to yield additional evidence.  Learn how to review and analyze false documents, properly seize currency, write reports with proper, descriptive phraseology and review anticipated court testimony as well as common attacks on police officers by defense attorneys when the case enters the trial phase. 

This course could stop at this point, but goes on to focus on the connection between drug smuggling and international terrorism.  These connections became more clear on March 11, 2004 when a Moroccan terror cell traded hashish for the dynamite used in the attacks which killed 191 people aboard commuter trains.  Serious concerns are now be realized with the movements of drugs by organized gangs such as MS-13 and suspected ties to al-Qaeda.  Narco-terrorism: the drug-terror connection, is a term that every law enforcement officer in our Nation should be familiar with.  This class will teach you how to "think outside of the box" when it comes to this issue and how to proactively interdict these initiatives.

Workshop Content:

• Proactive Interdiction Methods
• The Current Narcotics Threat Across the US
• Narco-terrorism:  The drug-terror connection
• Identifying Drug Smugglers and Terrorists
• Identifying Hidden Compartments and Stashes
• Identifying Fraudulent Documents
• Field Interview Techniques
• Officer Safety and Survival
• Learn the nine (9) step P.R.O.A.C.T.I.V.E. approach to identify a terrorist or the identity of an individual or individuals who support terrorists and their cause

Instructor:  Sgt. Mike Lewis, is currently a Sergeant with the Maryland State Police and is assigned to the agency's Pro-Active Criminal Enforcement Unit (PACE) in Jessup, MD.  He is the MSP's leading Criminal Interdiction Expert and a certified instructor.  He is also a Master Instructor through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  Mike is directly responsible for the training and educating of all MSP personnel in the Criminal Interdiction Venue.  He pioneered the Drug Interdiction Program along MD's notorious U.S. Rte. 13 corridor coordinating many multi-jurisdictional investigations following the seizures of large amounts of illegal contraband.  During Mike's twenty years as a MD State Trooper, he has made many nationally recognized seizures of Crack Cocaine along MD's East Coast.  Mike has trained tens of thousands of law enforcement officers extensively throughout the US and Canada as well as other parts of the world to include: Australia, England, Germany, Russia and the West Indies.  Mike has been judicially recognized by the Federal and State courts as an expert in the areas of highway interdiction , hidden compartments and drug valuation.

How good is Sgt. Mike Lewis and his training?  Read this amazing article from the Roxboro-Courier Times about what occurred on June 21, 2005, in a training Sgt. Lewis did in Roxboro, NC. http://www.srrttraining.com/MikeLewis.html

Det. Sgt. Lou Savelli (Ret.)

Instructor: Det. Sgt. Lou Savelli, NYPD, retired in 2004 is the former Detective Squad Commander of the NYPD Terrorism Interdiction Unit and Vice President of the Est Coast Gang Investigators Association.  He is the creator of the NYPD CAGE Unit which was awarded the title of the Most Effective Gang Unit in the United States.  Lou was recognized as one of the NYPD"s most effective leaders of all ranks.  He is the author of the Proactive Law Enforcement Guide to the War on Terror and a member of the International Counter-Terrorism Association.  Lou Savelli, as a narcotics detective, was a member of the NY DEA Task Force and holds the record for the largest cash seizure in a drug case in world history: $20 million.  He has made countless drug seizures and hidden compartment discoveries since 1983 and seized more than $50 million in cash and several tons of cocaine and heroin.  He is an expert at identifying hidden compartments in vehicles , buildings, and warehouses.  In the past 3 years, he has deployed and instructed a proactive highly successful Counter-terrorism program for law enforcement officers called Criminal Interdiction of Terrorist Cells.