Introduction
The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) is a law enforcement training organization that serves more than 90 agencies of the federal government. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center has the best training programs. However, there are various ways that the programs can be improved. These are areas that law enforcement officers find most challenging. Challenging areas include dealing with people of different races, cultures, and those that are mentally ill. Improvement in these different areas could benefit the law enforcement services by enabling them to deal with different groups of people effectively. Neglecting such improvements will mean that officers have limited knowledge in addressing these controversial issues during their work. This paper analyzes the objectives the FLETC and various areas that the training program could be improved. A few areas that the FLETC should improve include dealing with mental illness, improving racial coherence and embracing diversity.
The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center serves all government agencies apart from the DEA and FBI. Various agencies of the state and local police send their officers for specialized training to the center. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center makes use of classroom learning along with a combination of advanced technology to enhance its training. The FLETC offers a large number of programs that range from basic to advanced training. Students can participate in any of these programs depending on their needs and requirements. Students that go through the training receive the best education and experience. FLETC has partnered with various law enforcement agencies. These agencies can send their members to the program for training.
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Certain procedures and protocols are to be followed before one starts training with the agency. One should first go through the basic training program. An example of a basic program is known as the Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP). It is a program that provides the trainees with fundamental and basic skills to help in their law enforcement strategies. It can also help in providing information and knowledge about how to conduct criminal investigations.
Individuals that enroll in the program should go through a training period that lasts for 12 weeks. Throughout their stay, they will undergo different pieces of training that entail laboratory work, physical exercise, and classroom lectures. The entire program is geared towards ensuring that the trainees meet the physical performance requirements and the standards expected in the classroom. Upon graduation from the basic program, some trainees can choose to advance through undertaking advance programs or specializing in an agency of their choice. There are various programs that one can pursue and specialize. These programs include the Land Management Police Training, the Customs and Border Protection Training Program, The Uniformed Police Training Program, and the Immigration and Customs Training Program.
Objectives of the FLETC
One of FLETC ’s goals is to ensure that its curriculum and training is relevant, up-to-date and meets challenges with the emerging trends. To achieve this, the entire program undergoes a review and development process that is monitored and revised by experts in various levels of the law enforcement. The FLETC thus partners exclusively with other stakeholders and agencies that can help in exchange of best practices and training research. These developments are what ensures that the center makes use of the most effective technologies, methodologies, and effective training methods.
For any organization to move towards improvement, there ought to be good policies and commitment to the organization’s goals. The Federal Law Enforcement Center is committed to achieving its mission and goals. The main mission of the FLETC is to offer training to those that protect the country. Its training audience thus includes tribal, local, and state departments spread throughout the United States. The FLETC also has an impact which spreads across the borders of the country. This is achieved through international capacity-building services and international training. The organization reviews its mission statement frequently and improves in areas that are necessary. The staff and training instructors uphold the standards of the organization as expected by community and departments where they serve (Anon 2007).
The Federal Law Enforcement Center provides training to law enforcement officers to enable them to fulfill their responsibilities in a safe and responsible manner. The FLETC has been in operation for more than 46 years and has grown to become the largest organization that provides law enforcement training. The entire organization makes use of a collaborative training model by partnering with several other organizations to achieve its mission of delivering training unique to specific missions. The FLETC thus provides training that is common across all law enforcement officers. This includes areas such as legal training, investigations, driving, and dealing with firearms. Agencies which choose to partner with the organization can realize qualitative and quantitative benefits from the model of training undertaken by the program. These agencies benefit by having higher quality training, improved operations, and shared services.
The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center works to prepare law enforcement officers for the challenges that they will face in the workplace. Officers that go through the program can meet most of these challenges throughout their careers and deal with them successfully. While the tasks for some law enforcement officers changes with time, the training provided by the FLETC is adequate to ensure flexibility for officers as their job requirements change. Officers are thus equipped to deal with emerging threats and changing social conditions.
Dealing with racial bias
One area that the Federal Law Enforcement Center should improve in is in the offering of lessons about racial coherence. The police-community relations in the United State has been in a bad state. There have been several incidences in the past few years where police-citizen encounters have been negative. These local encounters have resulted in the death of unarmed citizens and also for the police officers. The advent of the internet and social media has led to the information being transported across the globe. The severity of these incidences shows that most officers are ill-equipped to deal with situations that involve racial diversity.
One example where law enforcement officers failed to perform their duties by showing no racial bias was in the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson in the year 2014. From that time law enforcement officers have experienced years of turbulence where they have been criticized by the media and the general public. The police have often been blamed for showing racial bias and making use of deadly force for a simple confrontation. There have been assumptions that indicate that the law enforcement agencies have been biased in their work. According to Close and Patrick (2007) several law enforcement officers are racially motivated in their work. There is a common phrase which states that law enforcement officers have one trigger for whites and the other fingers for blacks. Law enforcement officers should thus undergo rigorous training to ensure that they are not racially biased.
The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center should train its officers in improving accuracy when detecting threats. The officers should also be trained on how to use objectivity without showing bias even when faced with a highly dangerous situation. Proper training should condition officers to ignore any racial traits when making decisions. An effective program should feature the use of threatening suspects that are either black or white. Such conditioning should ensure that law enforcement officers improve in their judgment when faced with a situation that is potentially serious.
One example of a program that could train law enforcement officers to deal with deadly situations without showing racial bias is known as the Counter Bias Training Simulation. The program involves a 4-hour long simulation training where officers are involved in simulations of the practical program. The officers deal with situations that are highly realistic and are engaged with sensitive scenarios that deal with “shoot or don’t shoot.” The scenarios presented are diverse and include individuals of different race, age, gender, mental illness, intoxication level, and socio-economic status. After each scenario, the officer is then asked to reflect on their performance and identify various factors that he or she ignored. Team members are also asked how an individual handled the entire scenario and how they could improve. The entire training is efficient and offers a simulation of various practical things that officers could face (Otu 2016). The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center should adopt such a training system to ensure that its officers are objective and do not show any bias when dealing with different situations
Cultural cohesion
In the past, law enforcement officers mainly had to only deal with critical and life-threatening situations. Law enforcement officers today have to deal with an array of issues that involve social interactions. An intellectual and purposeful discussion should thus be carried out between the law enforcement training center and the community. In order to embark on the journey of ensuring that law enforcement officers are effective in their various endeavors, they should be trained to become first responders in addressing issues of ethnicity, gender, race, and religion. This should help the law enforcement officers serve the communities they swore to protect and serve effectively.
Law enforcement agencies today are confronted with intense levels of criticism and scrutiny compared to any other profession. There has been ensuing tension among many law enforcement officers and the media which has impacted the morale of many officers negatively. The result has been that some officers have chosen to move away from active policing because they fear that they are going to be judged unfairly. Other law enforcement officers have withdrawn from law enforcement functions and hence a reduction in public safety. As the challenges that face law enforcement officers continue to increase, these officers look forward to leaders and trainers in the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers for reassurance and validation.
The diverse situations that law enforcement officers face calls for an aggressive approach by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center to handle the specific issues. The trainers, leaders, and motivational speakers in the facility should continually call for the law enforcement officers to be diligent and persistent in their service. Building stronger ties with the community in the face of strong criticism should help in reducing resistance that many law enforcement officers face. Officers should connect with respectable community service that fosters peace and cohesion within the community.
Many law enforcement centers usually deal with diverse groups. They are in contact with people of different cultures and sexes. The entire organization is also made of a diverse group of law enforcement officers. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement is an example of an agency that deals with groups of people that are diverse. The mission of the institution is to promote safety and security in the United States border and control immigration to the United States. Officers in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement are faced with various difficult situations. They have to conduct investigations into the illegal movement of goods and to handle the arrests and deportation of illegal immigrants (Hing 2017). Another agency that deals with people of diverse groups is the Customs and Border Protection. The agency works to promote safety and security at the borders and to prevent terrorists and illegal goods and weapons from getting into the United States.
The work of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center is to train individuals that will work in the different agencies to be able to work with people of different cultures. Cultural diversity programs have thus been implemented in the training center. These types of programs are also known as police-community relations. The goal of the programs is to improve relations between the people in the community and the law enforcement officers. Such a program ensures that the police are more responsive and sensitive in the way they deal with various issues. It can also encourage the police force to engage more with the community and thus build positive interactions with individuals that reside in the community.
Diversity training can also be implemented in the FLETC to ensure that police officers are better equipped with knowledge of cultural differences and other cultures. The training educates them about other cultures and teaches the officers the best ways on how to deal with people that would come from different cultures in different situations. While such diversity programs exist in the FLETC, the effectiveness of these programs should be examined to ensure that officers that go through the training become better equipped.
The outcomes of diversity training of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center shows that it has not been mostly effective. Farkas (2014) carried out a study using the training facility to see the results and outcome of cultural diversity training on veteran and new officers. The entire program lasted for two days and covered a coursework of sixteen hours. It involved officers that were currently in the training center and those that had completed the training program. Veteran officers were required to attend sessions of the retraining in a bid to improve general relations with the community.
Questionnaires were given on the participants after the training was completed. The participants were grouped based on the agency and service, their reactions, and their general reactions from the diversity class. Private interviews were also conducted so as to give the officers a chance to expound on the answers they had noted in the questionnaires. Analysis of the responses from the questionnaires and interviews was done and the new officers were compared with those officers that had years of experience. They were analyzed based on their reactions towards the course.
The results from the study showed that offices that were new had positive attitude compared to veteran officers. This was mainly because officers with more experience had more knowledge with the course and found it difficult to change their preformed attitudes. New officers showed a level of criticism and anger compared to the veteran officers. Results from the study show that it is important that diversity programs should be undertaken to new officers (Farkas 2014). The FLETC should thus engage an aggressive approach to its diversity programs when dealing with veterans that are adamant about learning.
The FLETC can also ensure that its diversity programs involve the community. The community plays a big role in ensuring that diversity programs are successful. Apart from simply training the police administrators and police officers, the community should also be involved in the training programs. Such a program would also become successful if the community was trained cultural differences. Such a strategy is better than simply putting the entire blame on law enforcement officers. Programs on diversity should also be taught on officers that are already working. This is because a topic like cultural diversity is wide and cannot be handled in a single topic. It can take some time for the topic to be programmed in the mind of each correctional officer.
Working with the mentally ill
A close analysis of various FLETC classes shows that there is little time spent in addressing situations that involve a person that is mentally ill. One of the courses that involve teaching law enforcers to deal with individuals that are mentally ill is the Uniformed Police Training Program. For this program, there are only two hours of training that addresses the subject of dealing with the mentally ill (Carter 2009). The program involves the participant attending a class known as Managing Abnormal Behaviors. For other courses, the law enforcement officers undergoing the training do not receive any training dealing with the subject of dealing with the mentally ill. The Land Management Police Training and Criminal Investigator Training Program do not have any pieces of training regarding the subject of the mentally ill. The result is that law enforcement officers that undergo the training are ill-equipped to deal with individuals that could be mentally ill and potentially dangerous. Law enforcement officers encounter a large number of individuals throughout their work. There is a chance that they could meet someone that is mentally ill. Training them through appropriate courses will ensure that they will approach the situation correctly.
Another area in which the law enforcement training center could improve is in building police cultural awareness and diversity. This topic is critical to the field of law enforcement because law enforcement officers always deal with people that are different from them. The officers come from different backgrounds and from different places in the country. While there are those that come from cities which are full of diversity, there are some who have never experienced diversity throughout their working endeavors. Proper training by the law enforcement center is important to ensure that the officers can adequately manage diversity in their place of work. All officers should be trained about diversity so as to understand the cultures of different individuals. Building a rapport with someone of another culture is important to create understanding. It will build relationships between the officers and the people they serve on a daily basis.
Law enforcement officers are usually the first people to respond to the mentally ill. Apart from the mental healthcare professionals, law enforcement officers interact with the mentally ill individuals more than any other group. When confronted with such a situation, the officer can recognize that the person is mentally ill and ensure that they take appropriate actions for proper treatment. On the other hand, they can find the person ’s activity illegal and take immediate action on the individual. Such an action can involve arresting the mentally ill person. Law enforcement officers are thus the main people that determine the fate of the mentally ill person.
Unfortunately, law enforcement officers are inadequately trained to handle situations that involve the mentally ill. People that are mentally ill also show high distrust of people in the federal government. For most of the time, the result when a mentally ill person encounters a mentally ill person is disastrous. The federal law enforcement training center should thus improve in its approach and training to make such situations less violent (Loucks 2013).
Law enforcement officers make a third of all the mental health referrals after an arrest. While law enforcement officers are forced to deal with several individuals that are mentally ill, they have spent a low amount of their entire training time learning how to deal with the mentally ill. Research shows law enforcement officers have spent only 6 hours learning how to deal with the mentally ill (Loucks 2013). The training is limited , but the interaction between law enforcement officers has increased immeasurably. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center should thus accommodate more programs that educate people on how to handle individuals that are mentally ill. Such an action will serve the interest of the law enforcement officers, the mentally ill, and the community at large by preventing high-risk situations from turning disastrous.
One way that the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center can carry out training about the mentally ill is finding individuals that are experts in the field teach on the topic. Having experts teach can be costly but is an effective strategy to deal with the situation. A trainer in a specific agency can also participate in the course. The entire program should be carried out once and be done by an expert from the outside. Experts can ensure the success of the program because they can communicate the subject of mental illness effectively. They should be able to communicate the symptoms of mental illness and advocate for appropriate ways to respond to those calls. Officers should also be then trained on the appropriate course of action to undertake for the different individuals.
Encounters with the mentally ill people are frequent for law enforcement officers. Proper training should be provided by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. By offering better training, law enforcement officials will be able to take responsibilities and deal with the mentally ill appropriately. This can prevent shootings which have in the past been associated between the police and the mentally ill. Better training should ensure that law enforcement officers can read the body language and behavior of perpetrates and find out if one is mentally ill or not. Training officers will ensure proper endings for situations that involve the mentally ill.
Conclusion
As the largest provider in law enforcement training in the Nation, the FLETC plays a big role in ensuring that officers in the nation undergo proper training. The center provides world-class training to individuals from almost every part of the country. The training center is equipped with high-end technology and material. While the training center is highly successful, the center has some flaws that need improvement. The enforcement center should treat individuals on how to deal with mental illness, improve in racial diversity, and train on cultural diversity and awareness. Previous research has shown that these are among the most relevant issues that law enforcement officers face on a daily basis. By improving on training in these areas, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center will produce officers that are equipped to deal with the most current issues.
References
Anon. 2007. "Federal Agents: The Growth of Federal Law Enforcement in America." Choice Reviews Online 44(11):44-6529-44-6529.
Carter, J.W. 2009. "The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)." Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management 32(1).
Close, Billy R, and Patrick Leon Mason. 2007. "Searching For Efficient Enforcement: Officer Characteristics and Racially Biased Policing." Review of Law & Economics 3(2).
Farkas, Gary M. 2014. "Helping Law Enforcement Officers." PsycCRITIQUES 59(29).
Hing, Bill Ong. 2017. "Federal Regulatory Policymaking and Enforcement of Immigration Law." SSRN Electronic Journal .
Loucks, Jeannine S. 2013. "Educating Law Enforcement Officers about Mental Illness: Nurses as Teachers." Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services 51(7):39-45.
Otu, Noel. 2016. "Police and Societal Culture." Law Enforcement Executive Forum 16(2).
