Project Description
To address the immediate need to provide clandestine lab training the Department of State’s (DOS) Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) contracted with our client to provide clandestine lab training to the national police of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. The training was initially to focus on the clandestine manufacture of cocaine. However, PBSI experts recommended that the lecture topics be expanded to include all contraband substances, with the practical exercises to be specific to cocaine processing laboratories.
PBSI’s pool of instructors includes experts in the clandestine production of contraband substances, i.e., drugs and explosives that utilize one or more of four generic manufacturing processes. Our philosophy taught the participants the four generic processes found in all clandestine labs enabling them to properly process clandestine lab scenes, regardless of the contraband substance or the manufacturing process used.
The goal of our training program was to enhance the ability of the national police of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil to process clandestine cocaine laboratories in a safe and secure manner while collecting and preserving the evidentiary value of the physical evidence located at the scene.
The following objectives were utilized to achieve the training goal:
- Provide instruction concerning the identification and mitigation of hazards associated with clandestine labs
- Provide instruction concerning the clandestine manufacture of contraband substances, with an emphasis on the production of cocaine
- Provide instruction concerning the use of personal protective equipment used to process clandestine labs that manufacture contraband substances
- Provide instruction concerning collection and preservation of physical evidence found at clandestine labs that manufacture contraband substances
- Provide practical exercises that allow the participants to demonstrate the proper use of personal protective equipment used to process clandestine labs that manufacture contraband substances
- Provide practical exercises that allow the participants to demonstrate the techniques used for the identification, collection, and preservation of physical evidence found at clandestine labs that manufacture contraband substances
The course of instruction included 2 days of lecture that provided an academic foundation of the manufacturing techniques used to clandestine manufacture contraband substances as well as the hazards associated with the reagents and solvents and their mitigation strategies. Two days of practical exercises were provided to reinforce the academic information provided during the initial part of the training. The final training day included oral presentation of the participant’s processing of two mock clandestine cocaine manufacturing operation as well as a critique of how well they incorporated the training into the final practical exercise.
Project Details
- Forensic Laboratory
