Financial Investigations (FINANC)

Purpose of the course

Traditionally, law enforcement has structured investigative units to generally operate in silos around substantive offences such as fraud units, drug units, major crime units, just to name a few. The investigative success is measured by the performance of investigators as it relates to their specialty, i.e., in a drug unit success is associated to “the amount of powder on the table” or in a fraud unit to the number of arrests and convictions for fraud offences. With such an approach, the investigations are limited to the narrow borders of the investigators’ specialty.

As most crimes (approximately 88%) are committed for some form of monetary return, they are, by definition, “financial crimes” and should also be looked at and investigated from that perspective, not merely as a substantive offence. While the traditional method of structuring investigative units has enjoyed a certain amount of success, it is believed that this approach is inefficient. It reduces the overall effectiveness to combat organised criminal behaviour. Hence, it is the objective of this course to encourage the change of investigators’ perceptions of how substantive investigations are conducted.

Participants on this course will learn to look at all major crimes, regardless of the substantive offence, as financial crimes. They will learn how to include the financial aspect in all the major crime investigations they are involved in. Investigators on this course will learn how to conduct a financial investigation by identifying the various typologies or methodologies and emerging trends of substantive offences. They will learn effective investigative techniques that are specific to financial investigations. Participants will learn about the different types of methodologies of crimes for profit according to applicable Acts and legislation, the products and services available from financial institutions and intermediaries and their use in a financial investigation. The principles of major case management will be covered, the role of the financial investigator and where it fits in a major case investigation. Participants will learn about the gathering of evidence, investigational methods and techniques, and how the various sources of information are useful in financial investigations. Finally, they will learn about the assistance that is available from outside agencies that is often used in a crime for profit investigation. This course is also designed to prepare participants to play their role of investigators in a financial investigation by way of case studies that will provide participants with the opportunity to apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes acquired during this course.

Objectives

At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• identify crimes for profit;
• identify money laundering and terrorist financing techniques;
• apply the principles of Major Case Management (MCM);
• use the appropriate investigative techniques to legally secure evidence to prosecute financial crimes;
• conduct financial and criminal intelligence analyses to investigate a case;
• determine which partner agencies to call upon, and when to call them;
• present the results of their financial investigative plan.

Participant Selection Criteria

This course is open to investigators within an investigative unit. Others need approval from the Director General (DG) Canadian Police College, or delegate to be able to attend this course.

Participants must be free of their organizational responsibilities while attending the Financial Investigations course. Therefore you and your sponsoring organization should plan carefully for your two-week course. Court commitments during the scheduled hours will automatically prevent you from attending the course. There will be evening syndicate work from 16:00 to 18:00 hrs on certain days. If you are commuting, please advise your unit manager. Compensation for after class work must also be addressed with your unit manager.

Note: It is strongly recommended that, prior to this course, participants have acquired basic computer skills that include Internet searching techniques. The completion of the CPC’s Internet Searching Techniques – Basic course (INTSTB) or an equivalent is also acceptable.

Participant Assessment

Participants will be assessed through a series of practical performance-based problem solving exercises consisting of a running case study and daily case examples.

Participants will be assessed individually and in groups. The running case study will lead to a group presentation and will be the basis for a group evaluation.

CPC Academic Policy: Participants who do not meet the assessment requirements for a successful course completion will not be awarded a Canadian Police College certificate. Further details are found in the Canadian Police College Academic Policy.

Logistics

Duration: This course is 10 days long.

Location: This course will be held at the Canadian Police College.

Number of participants: There will be a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 24 participants are required to run this course.

Language: This course will be delivered in English and French.