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Interviews, Interrogations, & Street Encounters - April 6, 2026

Understanding that interrogations take place in many different contexts, this class is designed to provide law enforcement personnel with the tools necessary to legally extract information from a subject regardless of where or why the encounter occurs. With a dual focus on criminal procedure and interrogation techniques, the objective is to prepare the student for the realities of interrogations in both investigative and street police work.

• Reframing the Fundamental Objective of Interrogations
• Mandatory vs. Strategic use of Miranda
• Timing & Content of the Warning
• What Constitutes “Custody”
• What Constitutes “Interrogation”
• Why Rights Waivers are Unnecessary and Undesirable
• How to Avoid an Invocation
• The Public Safety Exception
• Promises of Leniency & Quid Pro Quos in Exchange for Information
• Use of Deception, Disinformation, and Minimization to Procure a Statement
• Taking a Statement, then Tearing it Down
• Game Theory & “The Prisoner’s Dilemma”

Searches & Seizures April 7, 2026

Instead of the standard lecture on what you cannot do when acting under the color of law, this class zeros directly in on ways of fulfilling law enforcement objectives in the face of the law’s constraints. Consisting of an interactive multi-media presentation designed to engage the students in thought and discussion with the instructor and each other while learning how to apply the Fourth Amendment to both basic and highly complex fact patterns. An absolutely essential class for personnel at all levels, taught in a uniquely dynamic way.

• Consensual Encounters, Terry Stops, and Arrests
• Motorists, Passengers, Cars & Conveyances
• Pretextual Detentions & Use of Deception
• Managing Detainees
• Weapons Searches vs. Contraband Searches
• Proper Scope of the Search
• Physical Force, Prolonged Detentions & Uncooperative Subjects
• The Full Extent of a Terry Frisk
• When more Intrusive Searches are Appropriate
• Exigencies and other Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement

Warrants & Affidavit Writing - April 8, 2026

This class is designed for law enforcement personnel at all levels interested in having the components of a warrant broken down into simple, understandable concepts and having the drafting and execution process mapped out systematically. The class focuses on how to articulate probable cause in difficult cases and how to maximize the utility of your warrant by expansively delineating the property to be seized and effectively describing the entire premises to be searched.

• Understanding the Components of a Warrant
• A Warrant should not be Judged as an Entry in “an Essay Writing Contest…”
• Persuasive Writing & how to Build Probable Cause in Difficult Cases
• The Rules of “Premises” Descriptions
• The Rules of “Property” Delineations
• Changing the Game with a fully Realized Affiant Biography
• Common Errors and Helpful Rules of Thumb
• Defending your Work Against Defense Attorneys, Judges, Prosecutors, and Supervisors

Mr. Nixon is the former Director of a joint Federal-State task force, that conducted complex international money laundering investigations, focused on the activities of Colombian and Mexican drug cartels. His accomplishments, as they are, include orchestrating an operation that resulted in the largest cash seizure in US history, totaling approximately 25 million dollars hidden in a trafficker’s residence and helping the US government sting terrorist financiers working for Hezbollah in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. In addition to his time as a task-force commander, Mr. Nixon previously served as a prosecutor, with extensive litigation experience, trying approximately 100 cases to verdict. He holds degrees from the University of California at Berkeley (BA), Quinnipiac University (JD), and the University of Pennsylvania (MPA). He can be reached via email at JP@TheOdysseusProject.com or at The Odysseus Project