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Q&A
Council Member Brewer questions DOI Commissioner on federal referrals, investigator training, and budget process
1:36:33
ยท
3 min
Council Member Gale Brewer engages in a Q&A session with DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber, focusing on the department's operations, including case referrals to federal agencies and the training program for new investigators. The discussion highlights the DOI's ongoing collaboration with federal partners and the comprehensive nature of their investigator training program.
- The DOI continues to maintain strong relationships with federal prosecutorial partners for case referrals.
- The department has an extensive investigator training program covering various aspects of law enforcement work, including surveillance, report writing, and testimony management.
- The training program includes an optional peace officer qualification with additional physical and weapons training.
Gale Brewer
1:36:33
Okay.
1:36:35
The issue of referring, now obviously now you refer to state or feds depending on the situation.
1:36:43
Have you already you had the opportunity to refer to the feds?
1:36:47
Is that gonna change?
1:36:48
Hopefully, that agency, at least at the staff level, will continue to be professional.
Jocelyn E. Strauber
1:36:53
I certainly hope it doesn't change.
1:36:55
We are continuing to make referrals and and work with our federal prosecutorial partners with whom we have strong relationships.
1:37:03
You know, I I certainly hope that the appetite and interest in the kind of work that we do will will continue to be a priority for the federal government as well.
Gale Brewer
1:37:11
Okay.
1:37:11
And then just finally, because we're all concerned about onboarding, just the training and of investigators, when you hire I don't know if it's a class or if it's if they start at the same time.
1:37:23
Given how hard it is to hire, maybe they start at different times.
1:37:26
But, what kind of training is offered?
1:37:28
How long does it take for the onboarding?
1:37:31
Has the training changed over time?
1:37:33
Because that's obviously the, as we say, the meat and potatoes of the agency.
Jocelyn E. Strauber
1:37:37
Yeah.
1:37:37
No.
1:37:37
We have we have an extensive, very well developed, investigative training program, where, you know, our new investigators learn everything from sort of like how to do a surveillance to how to write a memo to how to manage, testimony and cross examination.
1:37:54
It's a very comprehensive program.
1:37:57
There is also, after that initial training program, a portion for those who are interested in being qualified as peace officers that includes more physical training, obviously handling of weapons, defensive tactics, that kind of thing.
1:38:11
Our our hope is to always offer that training to a group of investigators when they start because that's the most efficient way to do it.
1:38:19
And I had mentioned that with the four new investigators that we posted for, from the new positions we received, and some additional vacancies that we have, we're hoping to have a class of at least eight.
1:38:29
What we've done in the interim, because there is a lot of interest in this program and not every investigator had the opportunity to take it because in its current form it hasn't been in existence for more than a few years.
1:38:41
We offered it when when we were, you know, sub when we were subject to the true freezes and doing much less hiring, we offered it within the agency to investigators who had some experience but felt that their skills could benefit from it.
1:38:52
It's a very popular program.
1:38:54
If it is new investigators who don't yet have a caseload, it's more intense over a shorter period of time.
1:39:01
If it is investigators who are carrying an active caseload, we creatively sort of expanded it so that our team could do their casework while still getting trained.
1:39:10
So it's it's an excellent program.
1:39:13
It's really, you know, a model, I think, for how to take folks who may have no law enforcement background and sort of get them ready to, you know, actually do all the work that we do.
1:39:22
And it's a real credit to our training program who have worked to really refine and develop it over the last few years.
Gale Brewer
1:39:27
Thank you very much, commissioner, for your testimony, and we look forward to working with you during the budget process and beyond.
1:39:34
Thank you.
1:39:34
Thank you,
Jocelyn E. Strauber
1:39:35
as always, for your support.
Gale Brewer
1:39:36
Thank you very much.