Colombia: ICITAP Maximizes Institutional Resources and Prepares Future Leaders to Conduct Financial Crime Investigations

On June 18, ICITAP-Colombia conducted the opening session for a newly launched micro-course in financial crimes investigation in Bogotá. The course brought together 489 cadets from the Santander Police School of the Colombian National Police (CNP) and focused on money laundering, terrorist financing, blockchain and cryptocurrency investigations, asset forfeiture, digital evidence, and the use of artificial intelligence in criminal investigations. This two-day initiative forms part of a broader national effort to strengthen financial crime investigative capacity among future leaders of the CNP. The micro-courses complement the established Anti-Money Laundering program’s 30-day training cycles, which have trained more than 650 judicial police officers from the CNP and the Attorney General’s Office over the past two years and contributed to significant operational impacts against 42 criminal organizations across 172 operations. The micro-courses are scheduled to continue in the Bogotá area through mid-September and are expected to train more than 1,000 CNP cadets. ICITAP continues to expand its partnership with the CNP to build critical investigative skills among emerging officers to target organized crime and dismantle transnational criminal networks that threaten regional stability over time further. These efforts directly advance United States national security priorities by disrupting illicit financial flows that enable narcotics trafficking, corruption, and terrorist facilitation, while protecting American citizens and U.S. interests abroad and strengthening institutional resilience across the region. Training under the Anti-Money Laundering program is supported through an interagency agreement with the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).