Rural Triage: From Roadside to Courtroom

COURSE DESCRIPTION: 8 hours of interactive discussions with officers reading and
evaluating real-world police reports, culminating in applying the skills they have learned in this
course to determine where mistakes were made and what they would do differently to provide
the best possible criminal case to prosecutors.

GOALS: The Goals of the Course are as follows
• Officers will better understand how their decisions and actions in those first few crucial
moments of their response are often the most important decisions made in the course of
an investigation.

• They will have an understanding of how prosecutors evaluate police reports when
determining whether to file criminal charges.

• Officers will identify the legal elements of common criminal offenses using the
framework of the Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions - Criminal, the same tool that
prosecutors use.

• Recognize common report-writing deficiencies that weaken criminal cases.

• Utilize their natural observational skills to find evidence and witness statements in places
that are historically overlooked.

• Understand with confidence how to draft initial “probable cause statements” that provide
prosecutors with everything they need to seek detention at pretrial detention hearings
under the SAFE-T Act.