Recently, there have been discussions with District Attorneys (DA) and their training managers, questioning the need for experienced peace officers to attend the required 80-hour training course for introductory investigations.

Most of the same peace officers have prior experience at their agency working in their Investigations Bureau. Most have completed various ICI (Institute of Criminal Investigations) courses and have many years of experience investigating simple and complex cases. To that end, many DA training managers (and the new hire investigators) believe that much of the training is redundant.  

The Commission has discussed the matter in the past and felt that reviewing the requirement may be a prudent endeavor.

On September 12, 2017, the following Subject Matter Experts gathered at POST HQ to review the current curriculum for the 80-hours POST-mandated DA Investigator course:

Carver, Terisa – Los Angeles County DA Investigations

Donovan, Michael – Napa County DA Investigations and President, CA District Attorney Investigators’ Association

French, Robert – Marin County DA Investigations

Martinelli, Erin – Director of Training, CA District Attorneys Association

McGrath, Pat – Yuba County DA and Training Chair, CA District Attorneys Association

McPherson, Raymond – Fresno County DA Investigations

Oliver, Peter – Santa Clara County DA Investigations

Rosario, Miguel – San Diego County DA investigations                 

Sage, Thomas – Amador County DA Investigations

Seman, Ron – Orange County DA Investigations

Warren, John – San Mateo County DA Investigations

The SME group agreed to the following:

Reviewed the following learning domains to ensure currency and relevance:

LD 70 – 8 hours

LD 73 – 4 hours

LD 78 – 2 hours

LD 81 – 4 hours

LD 86 – 4 hours

LD 88 – 2 hours

LD 94 – 4 hours

Reviewed the following learning domains to extract relevant parts for consolidation into LD 70:

LD 75 – 4 hours

LD 76 – 8 hours

LD 79 – 4 hours

LD 84 – 4 hours

LD 85 – 4 hours

Removed the following learning domains from the course:

LD 74 – 6 hours

LD 78 – 2 hours

LD 82 – 4 hours

LD 83 – 4 hours

LD 89 – 8 hours

LD 93 – 2 hours

The team plans to make use of the ICI Core Course for new DA Investigators that lack investigative experience plus the ICI Foundation Courses for specialty training (Homicide, Child Abuse, etc.)

The team will meet again on October 24^th to further review of the learning domains.