Controlled Substance Investigations Flashcards
Why should street cops work drugs?
1) drug dealers and users are on streets
2) patrol officers have potential to see more
3) traffic stops yield drugs
4) drugs = burglaries, theft, person crimes
5) most property crimes connected with drug use
6) talking to people can help find drugs
What are some reasons people use drugs?
Seek pleasure
Escape from reality
Addiction
Seek to alter mood
Medical
What is the manufacture of thc?
Plants grow 2-18 feet
Grow period 7-26 weeks
Indoor cultivation for thc?
Blackened or foiled windows
Potting soil or soil nutrients
Large attic
Large/small electric bill
Purchase of expensive light fixtures
Thc cultivation outdoors?
Remote locations
Booby traps warning devices guard dogs
Well used foot trails
Trees brush large farm crops
What are narcotic analgesics?
Opium and podium derivates
Naturally occurring: codeine, opium, morphine
Synthetic and semi synthetic: heroin, dialidid, methadone
Characteristics of heroin?
Flat dust like powder, packaged in small balloons
White to brown color
Tar heroin is sticky tar like substance
Vinegar/ fish like smell
Cocaine characteristics?
Dry powdery substance with crystal flakes
White to tan color
Usually bindled in paper-kept dry
Crack is made w/ baking soda and has thick lumpy dry dough look and smell like baking soda
Meth characteristics?
P2P= prop dope
Mixing and washing in a flask
Moist powder or lumps w/color from bleach white to dark tan
P2P has cat like urine smell
Kept in small plastic bindles moist
LSD?
Liquid drops placed on blotted paper
Sold on blotted paper
Odorless, colorless, tasteless
Sold on candy or sugar cubes
PCP?
White crystalline powder
Diluted in water and sold as liquid
Applied to leafy material like oregano, mint or thc
What are the purpose of informants?
Gather information not available to officer
Gain firsthand intelligence
Negotiate with cautious suspects
Prior to selection of an informant, what must you check for?
At least 18 years old
Not on parole/probation
Not addicted to drugs/in rehab
Have not been found unreliable
What are informant motivations?
Reduction in criminal sentence
Revenge on ex
Monetary incentives by police
Wanna be, ego boost
Seek to infiltrate police
What are ways to properly select an informant?
Suspect you arrested
Recommended by another officer
Walk into police station
Irate family or friends
What are requirements to making a confidential and reliable informant (CRI)selections?
Establish who the person is
What he knows
Why they want to help
Establish reliability
What are some patrol tactics for drugs?
Vehicle code
ID driver
Listen to conversations
Smell odors
How should you search a vehicle?
Top to bottom
Exterior to interior
Left to right
Front to back
What are private business that may help in a investigation?
Telephone companies
Public utilities
Credit agencies
Labor unions
What is included in a Field drug test kits?
Instructions
Container for vials
Vials of liquid used in test
What are the importance and limitations of field drug test?
Help establish PC
Establish type of scheduled drug
Field test are not acceptable as proof in court
Only crime lab test are positive proof
