This 40-hour course is required for anyone appointed to serve as a humane officer in Wisconsin. Humane officers must complete the training within one year of being appointed. It is also open to anyone who is interested. Law enforcement officers may apply the training to their 24-hour recertification training requirement.

Time and place

September 23-27, 2013

7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. daily

Crowne Plaza Hotel-East Towne, 4402 E. Washington Ave., Madison 

Who should attend

All humane officers appointed within the past year and not yet certified must attend. Law enforcement officers responsible for investigating animal cruelty complaints should attend. Anyone will want to attend who is interested in learning a systematic approach to animal cruelty investigations and/or becoming a humane officer.

Course content

• Role of the animal investigator
• Rules of evidence
• Rules of search and seizure
• Civil liability
• Wisconsin law
• Facility standards
• Evaluation of cruelty
• Nutrition
• Body conditioning and scoring
• Pet shop investigations
• Photography and sketching
• Crime scene procedure and collection of evidence 
  
• Interview and interrogation
• Report writing
• Courtoom testimony
• Crisis intervention/officer safety

Instructors

Your instructors will be veterinarians, attorneys and law officers with years of experience in investigating animal cases. You will also get hands-on experience in the barns at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Certification

After successfully completing the course and passing the written examination, you will be eligible for certification by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection as a humane officer. There is a testing fee in addition to the tuition, and if you apply for certification after passing the exam, there is a another fee.

Law enforcement officers can apply the course toward their 24-hour recertification training requirement.

Registration

Registration will begin in June 2013.

Lodging

Crowne Plaza Hotel-East Towne will host the training and hold a block of rooms at a special rate.  More details will be announced as the date nears. 

Law Enforcement Training Institute

The Law Enforcement Training Institute, affiliated with the University of Missouri-Columbia, has been providing state-of-the-art professional training to criminal justice practitioners since the 1940s. In 1979, the Institute became one of the original State Certified Law Enforcement Training Academies in Missouri. Since that time, the Institute has taken a leadership role in providing basic and advanced certified academies to law enforcement officers and continuing professional education programs to a wide, multi-disciplinary spectrum of the criminal justice system.

For more information

If you have questions about payment or registration, please contact the Law Enforcement Training 
Institute at 1-800-825-6505.

If you have other questions about the training or Wisconsin humane officer law, please call State Humane Officer Dr. Yvonne Bellay, 608-224-4888 or email.

Continuing Education 

After the first biennium of being certified as a humane officer, you must complete 32 hours of continuing education every two years to be re-certified. You must supply the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection with verification that you have completed this requirement.

Continuing Education Course Verification Form

Continuing education opportunities

The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection does not have any training planned currently. You may find training opportunities through the Wisconsin Federated Humane Societies.