Vehicle Stop Interdictions: Drug Interdiction for Patrol is one of more than 40 police training courses offered to law enforcement officers by The Backup Training Corporation. Focusing on highway drug interdiction, the CD-based course covers all of the bases for an officer who is serious about stopping the flow of drugs on the highways and streets of their communities.

Topics in the course include: indicators of drug couriers, roadside interviews, search and seizure case law, concealment locations and methods, “source” states and frequent overland routes, the use of K-9s, profiling, documentation, and more.

I have taken a variety of drug interdiction/criminal patrol courses in the past, and felt that this one does a good job of conveying a lot of the important information. If you have never taken a class on criminal interdiction you will get a lot out of this program. For the well-versed drug interdiction officer, this course is a solid refresher in most areas, and you may pick up a few new things also.

The course is rich in multimedia content, but a lot of reading will be required. The course is designed to be completed in 8 hours, and can be stopped and started at any time. To receive course completion credit, you do need to complete the course within 90 days of receiving the course.

I have taken several of the police training courses they offer (see prior post), and I have found there are three great reasons to use the training offered by The Backup Training Corporation:

1. the content is current, informative, and very relevant to a police officer’s duties,
2. the training course is FREE ($6 shipping/processing fee only), and
3. you can receive college credit from an accredited college for taking these courses.

Many states also recognize the training, and credit the classes toward the police officer’s in-service requirements.

The college credit (200-level classes) is awarded by North Idaho College, a fully-accredited college*, when you complete certain groupings of police training courses. A total of 17 semester hours is available. If you wish to obtain the college credit (your option–you don’t have to), simply pay a $25 application fee to the college plus $10 per hour of credit. So, for a grand total of $195, you walk away with 17 hours of college credit. Considering a 12-credit hour semester will set you back $1200+ at most institutions, that is a bargain you simply can’t argue with.

Stay safe!

*(Please note that there are a lot of pseudo-accrediting agencies out there. The real agency for the region, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, accredited North Idaho College, along with the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, Utah State University, etc. So the credits do transfer.)