When testifying in court;  the eyes of the jury, the judge, the prosecutor, the defense, and the public– are on you! Your reputation and that of your department may be enhanced or destroyed by your courtroom presentation. A single ineffective presentation in the courtroom can result in the acquittal of a defendant, no matter the amount of solid evidence you may have collected.


This course is approved for 1 hour of continuing education credits by Missouri POST and the  American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (ABMDI) 

Who Should Take This Course

  • Law Enforcement Patrol Officers/ Supervisors
  • Detectives and Investigators
  • Medicolegal Death Investigators
  • Coroners
  • Interested Students

Course Summary

When testifying in court;  the eyes of the jury, the judge, the prosecutor, the defense, and the public– are on you! Your reputation and that of your department may be enhanced or destroyed by your courtroom presentation. A single ineffective presentation in the courtroom can result in the acquittal of a defendant, no matter the amount of solid evidence you may have collected.

There’s another equally important reason for you to care about being an effective witness in the courtroom. If you aren’t, all the work that you and your fellow investigators did on the case, all that the victims and their families endured, all that other witnesses may have done over the many months and sometimes years it takes for a criminal case to go to trial–will have accomplished nothing more than a containment arrest. A single ineffective presentation in the courtroom can result in the acquittal of a defendant, no matter the amount of solid evidence you may have collected.

This is an online video training and is designed to be interactive with students by random quizzes and a final exam. Student login and time are tracked per student to verify the time spent in the course if needed.   Testing cannot be done until the videos are watched.  Many of the videos have a unique symbol or picture that will appear prominently in the video and is part of the test questions, this will ensure the video has been watched. Certificates will only be available for print after the successful completion of the course material.

Each certificate will indicate that it was an online training and will note the approval control number and the CLEE hours given.

Course Objectives

At the end of this 1-hour training course, the student will be able to:

  1. List the 2 classifications of a witness
  2. Explain the steps necessary for testimony preparations
  3. List the two-step method to help reduce fear prior to testifying
  4. Explain how your body language affects your demeanor
  5. Explain how to actively listen and answer direct questions
  6. List the five areas that directly affect your appearance as credible