According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are currently some 3,000 federal law enforcement officers and agents with arrest and firearms authority serving the US from offices based out of Georgia.
Georgia is best known within law enforcement circles as the site of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia. The program provides customized training programs for 91 federal agencies as well as state, local, campus, tribal and international law enforcement organizations. For most agencies, a bachelors degree or better in a related field such as criminal justice or homeland security is the key to qualifying for training.
Federal Law Enforcement Agencies in Georgia
The following federal agencies support most of the federal law enforcement jobs in Georgia:
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) – Atlanta (division office), Savannah (field office), Augusta, Columbus (satellite offices)
- Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – Atlanta (field office)
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – Atlanta (field office)
- Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) – Atlanta (division office), Savannah (resident office)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Atlanta (field office)
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – Atlanta (Region IV headquarters), Thomasville (federal regional center)
- Federal Protective Service (FPS) – Atlanta (Region IV headquarters)
- U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) – Savannah (air station)
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – Atlanta, Savannah (service ports), Brunswick (port of entry)
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – Atlanta (special-agent-in-charge field office)
- U.S. Marshals Service – Atlanta, Macon and Savannah (Northern, Middle and Southern district offices respectively)
Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC)
FLETC was established in 1970 to fill the need for high-quality, cost-effective training for federal law enforcement officers. Glynco is an area of Glynn County just outside the port city of Brunswick; it is a town in itself, with its own zip code, that is devoted exclusively to FLETC. Originally part of the Treasury Department, it was transferred to Homeland Security in 2004. Since its creation, over one million law enforcement officers have been trained at Glynco by a stellar array of professional faculty and staff.
FLETC’s 1,600 acres hold classrooms, dormitories, a dining hall that can serve 4,000 meals a day, gym, library, fingerprint and narcotics identification labs, computer forensics lab, 18 firearms ranges, driving and explosives ranges, mock port of entry, various support structures and a 34-building “neighborhood” equipped with video cameras for training exercises.
The wide variety of programs offered include basic and advanced training for federal law enforcement police officers/agents, corrections officers and criminal investigators. These courses are tailored to meet the agency’s specific needs and extend over different time periods. There are also one-of-a-kind training programs focused on such areas as:
- Active Shooter Threat
- Advanced CSI Forensics
- Backcountry Tactics
- Counterterrorism
- Human Trafficking
- Marine Operations
- Peer Support Crisis Intervention
- Technical Operations
Georgia Federal Law Enforcement Agencies with Training Academies at Glynco
All of these agencies that are active in Georgia train their officers/agents at FLETC:
- ATF
- CBP
- DHS
- FEMA
- ICE
- US Marshals Service
Training for Federal Law Enforcement Careers in Georgia
The following describes basic training programs for four federal law enforcement agencies that offer job opportunities in Georgia.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)
The two-part basic training focuses on criminal investigations (12 weeks) and special agent training (15 weeks). Part I courses include:
- Firearms training
- Physical tactics
- Driving techniques
- Handcuffing
- Interviewing techniques
- Surveillance
- Crime scene management
- Photography
- Courtroom procedures
Part II courses include:
- Firearms/ammunition identification
- Fire/arson investigations
- Firearms trafficking
- Report writing
- Alcohol/tobacco diversion investigations
- Close quarter countermeasures
- Undercover field operations
Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
The 89-day academy includes classroom courses in a variety of subjects, including:
- Immigration and customs laws
- Basic law enforcement skills and tactics
- Interviewing techniques
- How to analyze human behavior
- Report Writing
The program also includes 105 hours of practical exercises featuring role playing in over 200 different passenger processing scenarios. Trainees must pass seven graded practical exercises as well as eight written examinations in order to graduate.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Subjects covered during the 63-week training include:
- Immigration and naturalization laws
- Detention procedures
- Detection of contraband
- Fingerprinting
- Interviewing
- Cross-cultural communication
- Defense tactics
- Arrest techniques
- Baton techniques
- Officer liability
- Firearms handling
- Driving techniques
U.S. Marshals Service
Subjects covered during the 17-1/2-week training include:
- Legal training
- Defensive tactics
- Driver training
- Courtroom evidence
- Courtroom procedures
- Court security
- Officer survival
- Firearms training
- High-threat trials
- Physical conditioning
- Prisoner search/seizure
- Surveillance
- Building search
- First aid