Recognizing the Hazards of Clandestine Labs and Narcotics

Course Overview

In today’s robust drug market, many of the narcotics are prepared, pressed, mixed or manufactured in clandestine laboratories. In many cases these are discovered by first responders who are typically the least equipped to mitigate the hazards.

Using the “knowledge is power” concept, this class is designed to help officers and investigators recognize and understand the basics of clandestine laboratory operations and the hazards associated with them. The student will gain a working knowledge of drug production for the majority of the abused narcotics and present a well-rounded introduction into the identification of various Clan Labs.

All manufacture operations have hazards, from the basic marijuana grow and cannabis extraction operation to the fentanyl manufacture and pill press operation, the instructor will present recent, real-world investigations, images and videos of labs that law enforcement or firefighters have discovered.  Students will be instructed on the various methods to make basic emergency mitigation decisions, levels of personal protective gear that are best for each type of encounter and how to document and describe the lab to a responding supervisor or clan lab team.

This course is not designed to teach the student how to disassemble or investigate the laboratory, but in the 8 hour class it will provide a good comprehensive overview of the types of clandestine laboratories a first responder may encounter and how they can survive them.

Both days will include extensive real world examples and group solving scenarios.

Topics could be interchanged between days based on class audience.

Matthew Shay

Matt Shay is an experienced Narcotics Investigator that has actively been in Law enforcement for 28 years. He began with the City of Phoenix Police Department as an officer in 1995 where he started as a beat officer in downtown Phoenix. He became a Field Training Officer after two years and then a detective with the Drug Enforcement Bureau in 1999. He quickly began to build on his experience in drug investigations, ranging from several major wiretap investigations to street level, hand to hand undercover purchases.

During the Methamphetamine Laboratory crisis of the early 2000’s Detective Shay became certified in Clandestine Laboratory Investigator, Site Safety Supervisor for Clan Labs, Tactical Clandestine Laboratory Entries and advanced Clandestine Laboratory Investigation and Mitigation. He worked undercover with local ATF groups purchasing narcotics and firearms for a year and was assigned to the technical surveillance squad, conspiracy squad and intelligence squad during the 18 years he was assigned to Phoenix Drug Enforcement. He finished his career with the Phoenix Police Department with the Maricopa County Drug Suppression Task Force (MCDST), a HIDTA sponsored investigative group, retiring in 2018.

Within hours of taking his retirement from Phoenix Police Department, Matt was sworn in as a deputy with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) and assigned as an investigator in their Special Investigations Division. He resumed working with the MCDST task force and was also assigned a single purpose narcotic K-9 who is his partner to this day. Matt has had the opportunity to lead investigations into a wide assortment of clandestine laboratories that have run the gambit from Solvent Based Cannabis Extraction and Marijuana grow ops to Fentanyl manufacture and pill press operations.

As a certified instructor since 1997, Detective Shay has taught a wide variety of topics at numerous Arizona law enforcement and fire academies, local and regional training conferences, national narcotic enforcement organizations, Arizona State colleges, and is regularly requested as an instructor on specific disciplines for several local and federal agencies.

Detective Shay is utilized by (MCSO) as a media spokesperson for many of the Narcotics topics and regularly provides prevention presentations for local and national groups including HIDTA, MATFORCE and the Arizona Governor’s Office.

Host: POLICE TECHNICAL

Location: Online Seminar 647 Ohio Street Online Seminar, 47807 Get Directions

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