Law Enforcement and Intelligence |
Federal law enforcement training can be divided into various categories, the most common being basic, agency-specific basic (ASB), advanced/specialized, and agency-advanced/specialized. To operate safely and effectively, U.S. special agents and criminal investigators, must possess skills and knowledge regarding criminal and civil law and procedure, enforcement operations, physical techniques, and technical equipment, to mention a few. They must also be physically fit. While possession of a college degree can aid in obtaining employment in this profession, only extensive training provided at specialized facilities, combined with on-the-job training, can provide the skills and knowledge needed to perform the duties of a federal criminal investigator. Competition for these positions, particularly those carrying the 1811 designation, is extraordinarily fierce, with often less than 5% of qualified applicants eventually hired.
U.S. special agents and federal criminal investigators generally receive their basic training at one of two primary locations: the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), in Brunswick, Georgia, or the FBI or DEA training facilities based at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.
Only DEA and FBI agents receive their basic training at Quantico. Because of their size and mission scope, the FBI and DEA operate completely self-contained academies that provide all levels of training to their agents. These academies make no distinction between "basic" and "agency-specific basic" training. New FBI and DEA agents train at their academies for approximately five months before they begin their first investigative assignment. Both agencies' academies also provide advanced training in various subjects to other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. In fact, the FBI's National Academy is perhaps the most prominently recognized federal supplemental training resource for non-federal and non-U.S. law enforcement personnel throughout the world.
The FLETC, commonly pronounced "flet-see", is a consolidated training facility that provides economical basic training to U.S. special agents and other federal law enforcement personnel not employed by the FBI, DEA or U.S. Postal Inspector Service (USPIS). The FLETC also provides advanced and specialized training for most federal, state, local, and non-U.S. law enforcement agencies willing to share in the cost. The FLETC's basic training course for special agents, the Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP) lasts about 13 weeks, depending on changes to program content or holidays. But CITP only represents the beginning or "basic" training received by U.S. special agents not employed by the FBI, DEA, or USPIS.
After completing the FLETC CITP, most agents immediately transition to training provided by their own agencies (hence the term "agency-specific basic" or "ASB"), lasting another 2 to 16 weeks and sometimes longer, depending on the agency. Some smaller agencies, like the 64 Offices of Inspector General (OIGs), operate consolidated academies, such as the Inspector General Criminal Investigator Academy (IGCIA), through which specialized but common ASB-type skills and knowledge are more economically taught. So agents employed by the OIGs first attend CITP, then attend the IGCIA's IG Investigator Training Program (IGITP), then attend their own agencies' ASB training after completing IGITP, receiving a total of up to 16 weeks or more of training before conducting their first investigation. Many of the agencies utilizing FLETC maintain their individual academies for providing ASB and agency-specific advanced training on the same grounds as FLETC and share use of the same facilities. Some agencies, such as the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service and the U.S. Secret Service, conduct their ASB training in separate agency-owned and operated facilities.
Although a much smaller agency than the FBI or DEA, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service also operates a self-contained federal law enforcement training academy called the Career Development Division (CDD). Like FLETC and Quantico, USPIS CDD has been fully accredited by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (FLETA). Like the other academies, CDD provides basic training to postal inspectors in firearms, legal use of force, driving training, crime scene management, controlled deliveries, felony arrests, case management, case development, informant management, and surveillance, but also incorporates "agency-specific basic" training to help prepare the USPIS candidates in enforcing postal laws and federal mail statues such as mail fraud, mail theft, and other mail related crimes. In additional to basic training, CDD also provides advanced training for the postal inspectors, the uniformed postal police personnel, and the analysts.
For all U.S. special agents, training does not stop after basic and ASB. The career of a federal special agent is one of regular training in new legal issues and investigative techniques, and frequently includes quarterly, if not monthly, refresher training in hand-to-hand defensive tactics, the use of weapons of less than lethal force, and regular qualification in the use of firearms.
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