Animal/Plant Health Joint Investigations Course

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate (WMDD)-Biological Countermeasures Unit (BCU) and the United States Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) have launched a new curriculum to teach the basics of animal and plant diseases and joint investigations.

K-State will host the free Animal/Plant Health Joint Criminal-Epidemiological Investigations Course August 8-9, 2017 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Kansas State University Student Union Flint Hills Room. The Union address is 918 N. 17th St., Manhattan, Kansas 66506. View the event flyer.

Note: Registration is closed. If you wish to attend, contact Cheryl Doerr, K-State associate vice president for research compliance, at cdoerr@k-state.edu.

Regardless of its origin, early detection, rapid identification, and prompt notification of a zoonotic or emerging disease outbreak originating in domestic, wild animals and/or plants are critical to the successful mitigation of disease spread. Joint investigations are the new frontier for law enforcement and animal and plant health investigators.

Objectives of the new curriculum are as follows.

• Understand law enforcement, animal health, and plant health roles, responsibilities, and authorities during an outbreak of an unusual and/or high-consequence animal or plant disease, including:
  • Law enforcement threat assessments, intelligence, and investigations; and
  • Animal/plant health epidemiological, veterinary, and plant investigations.
• Identify assets and capabilities for each discipline.
• Demonstrate types of information collected by law enforcement and animal/plant health experts and how and when to share it with each discipline.
• Discuss best practices for conducting a joint threat assessment, joint investigations, joint interviews, and evidence collection.
• Develop inter-professional relationships between law enforcement and animal/plant health experts.