Advanced Criminal Investigations

Advanced Criminal Investigations is the deep-dive companion to Advanced Search and Seizure, built for working officers and investigators who already know the four question framework and want to sharpen the doctrines that come up every day in real cases. It is taught by Anthony Bandiero, attorney and senior legal instructor, in plain working officer language, and it assumes you have field exposure and the basics already in hand.

The course is organized around five major investigative themes. Standing and the Single Purpose Container Doctrine open the course by sharpening when a defendant has skin in the game and when a container essentially announces its own contents. Informants get full treatment, including unidentifiable tipsters (Florida v. J.L., Alabama v. White), identifiable tipsters (reliability plus basis of knowledge), and writing affidavits that survive suppression through the power of the word because. Constructive possession is broken down through case law showing why mere presence is never enough. Unprovoked flight under Illinois v. Wardlow is taught in three articulable factors. Home doctrine covers deceptive entries, warrantless re-entry under consent once removed, freezing a home in anticipation of a warrant, and detaining occupants under Michigan v. Summers. Hotel rooms, patdowns (with the plain feel doctrine and the no ocular pat-down rule), and a complete Miranda walkthrough close the course.

Miranda gets four full lessons. You will learn the three triggers that activate the doctrine, the knowing and voluntary requirements for a clean waiver, the rules for invocations and the harsh cross-investigation consequence that follows, and the public safety doctrine that survives even after invocation. After completing the course, you will be able to take a clean waiver, write an affidavit that walks the judge from facts to conclusion, articulate every patdown with both detention and armed-and-dangerous reasoning, and apply the right home doctrine for the situation in front of you. You will leave with the deeper toolkit that turns case-making into conviction-keeping.