The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)

Citation

Carter, J.W. (2009), "The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 32 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/pijpsm.2009.18132aag.001

The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)

Article Type: Policing on the web From: Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Volume 32, Issue 1

The former city of Glynco Georgia is home to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), an organization serving the training needs of over 80 federal law enforcement agencies, as well as, the training needs of local, state and international law enforcement agencies. FLETC’s facilities go far beyond the borders of Glynco, Georgia. FLETC also operates two other residential training facilities (located in New Mexico and South Carolina) and an in-service re-qualification facility (located in Cheltenham, Maryland). In addition to its task of training America’s law enforcement professionals, the FLETC also “has oversight and program management responsibility for the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Gaborone, Botswana; San Salvador, El Salvador; and Lima, Peru” and provides support for law enforcement training efforts in Hungary and Thailand.

The FLETC’s website (www.fletc.gov) contains much that could be of use to law enforcement professionals. For example, on the website’s “About FLETC” page, one can find information on all things related to FLETC, including its history, mission and several links to FLETC-related materials. Among the information available on FLETC’s training page is a catalog of all upcoming training courses, detailed descriptions of all training programs and even a “Training Finder”, allowing users to search for training programs by subject, location and/or dates of the training. On the “Student Info” page, there is information available for college students wishing to complete what can only be described as a one-of-a-kind internship program. Students participating in FLETC’s 12-week residential College Intern Program spend 50 percent of their time engaging in “worthwhile work to advance the mission of FLETC” and during the rest of their time, students are able to attend basic and advanced training programs. Finally, on the “Reference” page, FLETC has included links to various training-related policy statements, research reports and research papers.

In conclusion, whether one is searching for upcoming training courses, the latest news in law enforcement training or downloadable training materials and/or policy statements, the website for the FLETC provides a wealth of information. The FLETC website is very user-friendly, including both a site map and a search function to make it easy to find materials and resources. However, as with most websites, the usual caveat applies – many of the articles and materials available for download are in PDF format and therefore require the Adobe reader program which is available free via the internet.

J.W. Carter IICollege of Mount St Joseph, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA