Nuno Tavares, MA

Lieutenant (Retired), Placer County District Attorney's Office

Nuno Tavares, MA

Nuno Tavares has been in law enforcement since 1996. He retired as Lieutenant with the Placer County District Attorney’s Office in 2023. He oversaw various units, including cold case homicide, special investigations, fraud, and the Special Projects Unit.

Prior to joining the management ranks, Lt. Tavares was assigned to numerous positions, including over ten years on narcotics task forces. He also investigated auto theft, crimes against persons, public assistance fraud, and cold-case homicide. In 2007, Lt. Tavares was one of the lead investigators in Placer County’s only “no body homicide,” securing a conviction and sentencing the defendant to 53 years. This case received national and international coverage and was covered by several crime shows, such as 48 Hours, Forensic Files, True TV, and most recently, on Discover ID. He has also received various local and statewide law enforcement awards.

Since 2007, Lt. Tavares has been a certified law enforcement instructor for the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). As a POST instructor, he teaches for the Institute of Criminal Investigation’s core detective school, homicide investigation course, and sexual assault investigation course. In addition to teaching, Lt. Tavares has been invited numerous times to participate in curriculum development and training videos for California law enforcement as a subject matter expert. Lt. Tavares has been the recipient of the statewide award for excellence in training for POST.

Lt. Tavares served on the Placer County Deputy Sheriff’s Association (DSA) board of directors for more than eight years. During that time, he chaired several committees, including contract negations, political action, and also serving as president. In 2016, he was appointed to the California District Attorney’s Investigators Association (CDAIA) board where he currently sits as an Executive Board member.

Lt. Tavares has earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Master of Arts in Leadership from St. Mary’s College of California. In his spare time, Lt. Tavares enjoys traveling, cooking, and playing drums.

Degree Programs

Education

BS in Criminal Justice - St. Mary’s College of California
MA in Leadership - St. Mary’s College of California

Association

International Homicide Association
California Homicide Investigators Association

Certifications

POST Management Certificate
POST Level 3 Instructor
Student Reviews
  • "Great capstone course. Lt. Tavares definitely contributed to my success throughout the course with timely and thoughtful feedback that helped me create a better ePortfolio."
    - Fall '22 Student
  • "Professor Nuno M. Tavares did an amazing job of guiding us through our Capstone project. Thank you, professor, for your feedback and the time spent teaching us."
    - Fall '22 Student
  • "Professor Nuno Tavares regularly offered respectful supportive insight to help keep the discussion board topics flowing."
    - Summer '20 Student
  • "Professor Nuno was easily the most involved instructor to this date that I have experienced. This is my 9th class and can attest to professor Nuno's participation in all areas of this course."
    - Summer '20 Student
  • "He was extremely involved in the discussion boards, left detailed and valuable comments regarding our posts and papers, and frequently emailed the group. Very impressive."
    - Summer '20 Student
  • "I must share what a great instructor Professor Tavares is, and how he kept everyone motivated during the 7-week course. I had Professor Tavares on a previous course and always recalled how involved he was in the discussion boards. Again, he did not disappoint and challenged us to really dig deep and provide personal stories that most of us could relate to in one way or another. By far, Professor Tavares was able to get the best out of all of us in our own discussion boards, and his own posts highlighted his ability to bring strangers into meaningful conversations."
    - Summer '20 Student
  • "Professor N. Tavarez was outstanding in his instruction, engaging the students during discussions, providing feedback, spoke about his experiences, and pushing the student to learn not just from him but our co-students, via presentations and readings. Professor Tavarez afforded a positive learning experience in the material he covered."
    - Spring '19 Student
  • "Nuno Tavares is one of the most professional and "squared away" instructors I have had the opportunity to deal with in this program. He fully understands the struggles of his students and does his best to accommodate any issues a student may have. His policy on discussion boards helps keep the conversations flowing and encourages students to continually communicate. He also allows a little more of "informal" discussions which helps make the class feel more of a traditional in-class feel. I have seen other classes discussions die because of the more strict policies in which the students were only communicating the bare minimum, but in Nuno Tavares's classes, the discussions reach hundreds of replies. He is also fair in his grading and gives great tips that have helped me improve my writing."
    - Spring '19 Student
  • "This course has been my favorite and it has to do a lot with Professor Tavares' engagement and weekly updates. Especially in the discussion boards, Professor Tavares keeps conversations interesting and provides his own personal experiences which a lot of us can identify with. His communication is great and it made the course enjoyable."
    - Spring '19 Student

Capt. Tim Gately, Redmond Police Department
MS-LEPSL Alumnus

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