A Nationally Accredited Law Enforcement Training Academy

Social Networking is a crucial aspect of combating crime in the 21st century. Modern-day technology continues to evolve and law enforcement must evolve also with the technology. This course is designed to help bring officers and investigators up to speed with the new technology trends and give them practical/applicable tools to conduct online investigations involving social media platforms. Uniform officers can immediately put aspects of the course to work as effectively as detectives or criminal analysts.
Topics include Internet basics such as IP addresses and domains, an overview of currently popular social media platforms, and best practices for building an online undercover profile. This course will feature live demonstrations of both open-source and commercially available investigative tools for information gathering, and artifacts related to social media; as well as automated utilities to capture information and crawl websites.
Information will be presented to break down the elements of social networking, examine what information is collected and demonstrate what a great investigative/intelligence tool it can be. Information regarding investigative leads, relationships, communications, photographs, location, etc. is all available and often an open source. In addition, participants will learn the proper methods of authenticating the information they collect. However, social networking has also created several problems for law enforcement especially in matters of safety for both officers and their families.
Social media sites exist where officer and informant information are posted. Criminal organizations are collecting photos and biomaterial of officers and sharing that information via social media. This class will delineate steps officers must take to safeguard their information while utilizing social media for investigative work as well as in their personal lives.
Police officers teach this class for police officers. The method of teaching is smooth and straight forward, and each officer will leave with immediately applicable tools to assist in investigations.

Your Instructor:
Christin Berges has served more than 7 years in law enforcement, primarily as a Crime and Intelligence Analyst. She is currently with the Altamonte Springs Police Department as an Accreditation Manager and Analyst for Crypto-Track.
Prior to her current assignment, she was a Crime and Intel Analyst for agencies including Altamonte Springs Police Department, Winter Springs Police Department in Florida, Marquette University, and North Central HIDTA in Milwaukee Wisconsin.
Christin is an alumni of the University of Central Florida with her Bachelor of Science in Public Administration and her Master of Science in Criminal Justice, also earning certificates in Police Leadership, Criminal Profiling and Crime Mapping and Analysis.
Christin has a passion for working criminal investigations—including major crimes, criminal organizations, criminal gangs, fugitive apprehension, and open-source investigations, and assisting in numerous multi-jurisdictional investigations, now transferring her abilities to a new role of policy and accreditation.
Christin has previously taught on topics of Crime Analysis and Intelligence/Investigative Resources within Criminal Investigations, including Open-Source Intelligence and within LE databases since 2018.