Understanding the Mexican Cartels & ‘Narco’ Culture

This course covers the complexities of the Mexican Culture in regards to its history, religion, politics, law, traditions, folklore and much more. The Course provides law enforcement professionals, and other investigators the tools to recognize indicators/factors/items of interest of non-criminal activity versus those of criminal activity.

Participants will develop a more thorough understanding of the Mexican culture, and as such be able to provide better service to their ever-changing communities. The beginning of the course has been described as a “cultural awareness class on steroids”, as it relates to both criminal and non-criminal behaviors.

During the course, a heavy emphasis will be placed on the “Narco Cultura” (Mexican Drug Cartel Culture), including but not limited to: “Narco” fashions, symbols used, and individual information on the most powerful groups, their splinter groups and their tactics. Officers will also be taught on the difference between “Folk Saints” and “Patron Saints”; and detailed, extensive instruction on the “Narco Saints” will be presented with the use of a large “Narco shrine” (over one thousand items), other tools and actual hands-on practical exercises; which now includes a how-to skill in reading and/or interpreting a multitude of different religious shrines.

Additionally, it focuses on current trends and drug trafficking in the U.S., additional subjects including Anti-Bias Policing, Community Policing, Officer Safety, Marijuana issues, Reclassification of the Cartels into Foreign Terrorist Organizations, the “Plaza” system, the “King Pin Approach”, “El Culiacanazo 1.0 and 2.0”, the current Fentanyl crisis, effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on drug trafficking, growth of Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generation (CJNG), China and the Cartels, US/Mexico Diplomatic Environment, and much more.

This will benefit ANY investigator, as well as many others in any field of assignment (i.e. CID, Patrol, K9, Interdiction, Detentions, Gangs, Narcotics, Violent Offender Task Forces, Crime Prevention, SRO, Intelligence, Fire Marshall, etc), that may encounter signs of innocent cultural beliefs or warning signs of illicit activity. Furthermore, this training has been a valuable asset in investigations ranging from simple interactions with the public to traffic stops, from burglaries and arson investigations to a double homicide/assassination and auto theft to a separate murder investigation with six victims involving the “highjacking” of Santa Muerte.

NMLEA Accredited: NM220234

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