Federal Law Enforcement: Survey of Federal Civilian Law 	 
Enforcement Mandatory Basic Training (10-AUG-07, GAO-07-815).	 
                                                                 
Federal law enforcement officers (LEO) are required to complete  
mandatory basic training in order to exercise their law 	 
enforcement authorities. GAO was asked to identify federal	 
mandatory law enforcement basic training programs. This report	 
builds on GAO's prior work surveying federal civilian law	 
enforcement components regarding their functions and authorities 
(see GAO-07-121, December 2006). GAO defined an LEO as an	 
individual authorized to perform any of four functions: conduct  
criminal investigations, execute search warrants, make arrests,  
or carry firearms. In this report GAO describes (1) the mandatory
basic law enforcement training that the components reported	 
requiring their LEOs to complete and the federal law enforcement 
job series classifications for which basic training programs are 
mandatory; and (2) a breakdown of the delivery of the of basic	 
training programs, by type of organization providing the training
and location. To conduct this work, GAO administered a Web-based 
survey to 105 federal civilian law enforcement components. Each  
was requested to self-report on, required basic training programs
for LEOs, the organizations conducting the training, training	 
locations, and the job series for which programs are mandatory.  
GAO is not making recommendations.				 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-07-815 					        
    ACCNO:   A74253						        
  TITLE:     Federal Law Enforcement: Survey of Federal Civilian Law  
Enforcement Mandatory Basic Training				 
     DATE:   08/10/2007 
  SUBJECT:   Employee training					 
	     Law enforcement					 
	     Law enforcement personnel				 
	     Police training					 
	     Program evaluation 				 
	     Reporting requirements				 
	     Surveys						 
	     Training utilization				 

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GAO-07-815

   

     * [1]Four Basic Training Programs Associated with 17 Job Series C
     * [2]The Largest Source of Law Enforcement Basic Training Is the
     * [3]Agency Comments
     * [4]GAO Contact
     * [5]Acknowledgments
     * [6]GAO's Mission
     * [7]Obtaining Copies of GAO Reports and Testimony

          * [8]Order by Mail or Phone

     * [9]To Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Federal Programs
     * [10]Congressional Relations
     * [11]Public Affairs

Report to Congressional Requesters

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO

August 2007

FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT

Survey of Federal Civilian Law Enforcement Mandatory Basic Training

GAO-07-815

Contents

Letter 1

Four Basic Training Programs Associated with 17 Job Series Classifications
Were Most Often Required by the Components 3
The Largest Source of Law Enforcement Basic Training Is the Federal Law
Enforcement Training Center 5
Agency Comments 8
Appendix I Scope and Methodology 10
Appendix II The 105 Federal Civilian Components GAO Surveyed 14
Appendix III The 76 Unique Basic Training Programs Reported as Mandatory
18
Appendix IV All LEO Job Series Classifications and Their Mandatory Basic
Training Programs 28
Appendix V The 61 Organizations, Excluding FLETC, Conducting the Mandatory
Basic Training Programs and Their Training Locations as Reported by the
Federal Civilian Components 39
Appendix VI The 11 Federal Civilian Components That Reported Hiring LEOs
Who Had Already Taken Basic Training for Previous Law Enforcement
Positions 46
Appendix VII FLETC's 83 Partner Organizations 48
Appendix VIII GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 51

Tables

Table 1: The Four Basic Training Programs Required Most Often by the
Components for Their LEOs 3
Table 2: The Four Basic Training Programs Cited Most Often Were among 17
Different Job Series Classifications 4
Table 3: FLETC Training Facilities Used for Mandatory Law Enforcement
Basic Training Programs, as Reported by Federal Civilian Components 7
Table 4: The 13 Federal Civilian Components That Reported Using Only
Non-FLETC Resources for Their Mandatory Law Enforcement Basic Training
Programs 8
Table 5: The 76 Unique Basic Training Programs Reported as Mandatory by
the Federal Civilian Components 18
Table 6: FLETC's Criminal Investigator Training Program Reported as
Mandatory by 52 Federal Civilian Components 26
Table 7: LEO Job Series Classifications and Their Mandatory Basic Training
Programs (Excluding 0080, 0083, 1801, and 1811) as Reported by the 105
Federal Civilian Components. 28
Table 8: The 0080, 0083, 1801, and 1811 Job Series Classifications and
Their Mandatory Basic Training, as Reported by the 105 Federal Civilian
Components 33

Abbreviations

BOP Bureau of Prisons
DOD Department of Defense
FCC OIG Federal Communications Commission, Office of the Inspector General
FLETC Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
FSI Forensic Audits and Special Investigations
LEO law enforcement officer
NETI National Enforcement Training Institute
OI Office of Investigations
OPM U.S. Office of Personnel Management

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright
protection in the United States. The published product may be reproduced
and distributed in its entirety without further permission from GAO.
However, because this work may contain copyrighted images or other
material, permission from the copyright holder may be necessary if you
wish to reproduce this material separately.

United States Government Accountability Office
Washington, DC 20548

August 10, 2007

The Honorable Lamar S. Smith
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on the Judiciary
House of Representatives

The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner
House of Representatives

Basic training is designed to provide new law enforcement officers (LEO)
with the basic skills needed to properly perform their duties.^1 In recent
years, as the number of federal LEOs has risen, so too has the need for
the federal government to provide basic training. According to a Bureau of
Justice Statistics report, between 2002 and 2004, the number of LEOs with
the authority to make arrests and carry firearms increased 13 percent from
about 93,000 to about 105,000. We reported in December 2006^2 that there
were about 138,000 LEOs in the federal civilian government when two
additional responsibilities are considered--authority to conduct criminal
investigations and execute search warrants.

In this report, which builds on our December 2006 report that addressed
the law enforcement functions and authorities of federal civilian
components, we provide information on mandatory basic law enforcement
training programs.^3 As agreed with your office, we excluded the law
enforcement components of the Department of Defense and the intelligence
community from the scope of our review. Specifically, this report
describes (1) the mandatory basic law enforcement training programs that
components reported requiring their LEOs to complete and the federal law
enforcement job series classifications for which the basic training
programs are mandatory, and (2) a breakdown of the delivery of basic
training programs, by type of organization conducting the training and
location.

^1For purposes of this report, an LEO is defined as those law enforcement
officers authorized to perform any of the following four law enforcement
functions: make arrests, carry firearms, conduct criminal investigations,
and execute search warrants. This definition is based upon our prior work,
interviews with federal agencies employing LEOs, and other sources.

^2GAO, Federal Law Enforcement: Survey of Federal Civilian Law Enforcement
Functions and Authorities, [12]GAO-07-121 , and its electronic supplement,
Federal Law Enforcement: Results of Surveys of Federal Civilian Law
Enforcement Components, [13]GAO-07-223SP (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 19,
2006).

^3For purposes of this report, mandatory basic law enforcement training
program is defined as a continuous instructional activity that any federal
civilian component requires its LEOs to complete in order to earn the
component's approval to exercise law enforcement authority. A component
refers to an agency, office or other sub-unit of a department or
nondepartmental entity.

To obtain information on mandatory basic law enforcement training, we
administered a Web-based survey to 105 federal civilian components and
requested each to identify the basic training programs that they require
their LEOs to complete, the organizations that conduct the programs,
training locations, training duration, the job series for which the
programs are mandatory, and the general topics covered in the training
programs.^4 Additional detail on these topics and a copy of the survey are
provided in an electronic supplement we are issuing with this report--
[14]GAO-07-1066SP .

This report contains self-reported information from each law enforcement
component surveyed. While we did not independently verify the accuracy of
all the information provided to us, after receiving the completed surveys,
we conducted quality control checks by analyzing the responses to identify
inconsistencies. We offered each law enforcement component the opportunity
to make any corrections to its original responses by returning copies of
their original survey responses to them for review. Finally, we submitted
copies of the draft report to each component for comment. Further
explanation of our scope and methodology is provided in appendix I.
Appendix II contains a list of all 105 components we surveyed.

Our work was performed from October 2006 to July 2007.

^4There were 105 federal civilian components participating in our
mandatory law enforcement basic training survey, one more component than
in our prior work. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
informed us after we issued our December 2006 report ( [15]GAO-07-121 )
and during the mandatory basic training survey that it had an additional
component--the Program Protection Force of its Office of Security and
Program Protection--that employed personnel meeting our criteria for LEOs.

Four Basic Training Programs Associated with 17 Job Series Classifications Were
Most Often Required by the Components

Based on the responses of the 105 federal civilian components we surveyed,
we identified 76 unique mandatory basic training programs.^5 See appendix
III, tables 5 and 6, for a list of all 76 programs, the organizations
conducting them, and components citing them as mandatory. Four programs in
particular were cited by the components more often than others as
mandatory for their LEOs, as shown in table 1.

Table 1: The Four Basic Training Programs Required Most Often by the
Components for Their LEOs

Source: GAO analysis of mandatory basic training survey responses.

^a Some of these components required more than one program. For example,
all 15 components requiring the Inspector General Investigator Training
Program also required the Criminal Investigator Training Program.

In addition, out of the 211 federal LEO job series classifications that
the components reported to us for our December 2006 report, LEOs in 17
different job series classifications were required to complete one or more
of the four most cited programs, as shown in table 2. See appendix IV,
tables 7 and 8, for a complete list of job series classifications and
their associated basic training programs.

^5We counted a program as unique if (1) multiple components cited the
exact program title or a close variation and specified the same training
organization and location, or (2) only one component cited the program
title and specified a different training organization and location.

The total of 76 excludes 3 mandatory basic training programs that the
Department of Interior informed us about during the final processing of
this report. The programs, all required by the Department's National Park
Service, are the Field Training and Evaluation Program and the Ranger
Basic Training Program, which are conducted by the National Park Service;
and the Seasonal Law Enforcement Training Program, which is conducted by 9
colleges and universities across the United States. Also, the Department
stated that National Park Service's Law Enforcement, Security and
Emergency Services office requires its 1811 job series LEOs to take
FLETC's Criminal Investigator Training Program. The tables and appendices
in this report do not reflect this additional information and the
electronic supplement accounts for it in the "Additional Comments" column.

Table 2: The Four Basic Training Programs Cited Most Often Were among 17
Different Job Series Classifications

Source: GAO analysis of the mandatory basic training survey responses.

^aGenerally the 4-digit job series classifications are designated by the
U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Non-OPM classifications are
generally designated either by a job title or other combination of numbers
and job title.

^bJob series 1801, 1802, and 1811 were listed for more than one program.

Of the remaining 72 unique basic training programs, each was common to
just one to three components. Some of these basic training programs are
required for job series classifications representing large portions of the
overall LEO population. For example, DOJ Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)
requires newly hired LEOs among 159 different job series classifications
to take the same two unique basic training programs. The BOP LEOs
accounted for 25 percent of the LEO population as of June 2006. Similarly,
DHS U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Field Operations
requires newly hired LEOs within the 1895 CBP officer job series
classification to take three basic training programs unique to U.S.
Customs and Border Protection. CBP officers accounted for 13 percent of
the LEOs.

The Largest Source of Law Enforcement Basic Training Is the Federal Law
Enforcement Training Center

According to our survey results, federal civilian law enforcement
components obtain their mandatory basic training through one source or a
combination of training sources. The components reported 62 different
organizations as sources of their basic training.^6 Appendix V provides a
list of all training organizations reported in the survey. The largest
single source for basic law enforcement training is the Federal Law
Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).^7

Of the 105 federal civilian components we surveyed, 81 reported using
basic training resources from FLETC or a combination of FLETC and other
organizations, such as their own organization; other federal law
enforcement agencies; state and local law enforcement agencies; and
commercial vendors.^8 Eleven of the 105 federal civilian components
reported that they hired LEOs who had already received basic training for
previous law enforcement positions.^9 Two of the 11 components reported
they hired LEOs for one job series and required a basic training program
for another job series. See appendix VI. One component--the Department of
Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service--did not provide
details on its mandatory basic training but stated that formal training
provided to its investigators varied based on each individual's skills,
abilities, and experience, and that courses were provided at FLETC and
other facilities.^10

^6Two components reported state-level academies and training facilities but
did not list any specific training organization: the Department of
Transportation, Office of the Secretary of Transportation, Executive
Protection reported "Federal/State/Military Police Academy Training" and
the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK), AMTRAK Police
reported "Several state police or authorized state training facilities."

^7Among the other 61 training organizations reported, there was not 1
dominant provider, except for the Inspector General Criminal Investigator
Academy, which 15 components reported using.

^8In commenting on a draft of this report, one of these components, the
Federal Reserve Board's Security Unit, stated that it also uses FLETC
resources during the firearms training of its mandatory basic law
enforcement training program.

^9In commenting on a draft of this report, the Federal Reserve Board
stated that its Chairman's Protection Unit tends to hire special agents
who have prior FLETC training. Because the Chairman's Protection Unit
answered in its survey that it had a mandatory basic training program, we
did not include it in the list of 11 components, which appears in appendix
VI.

FLETC, which was established in 1970 within the Department of the Treasury
and transferred to the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, provides
basic, specialized, advanced and refresher training for federal, state and
local law enforcement agencies. FLETC currently has 83 federal partner
organizations, 71 of which we surveyed for this report.^11 A list of these
partner organizations appears in appendix VII. According to FLETC, the
partner organization designation means the head of the agency has signed a
memorandum of understanding setting forth an agreement between FLETC and
the agency. According to FLETC, the partner organization status offers the
benefit of priority in training and a lower cost for the training than for
non-partner organizations. Other nonfederal law enforcement agencies, such
as state, local, and international law enforcement agencies, may train at
FLETC on a space-available basis.

FLETC provides training at four locations in the United States as
follows:^12

           o The Glynco, Georgia, location was established in 1975 and is
           FLETC's headquarters and largest training complex at 1,563 acres.
           Glynco's facilities include classrooms, dormitories, a dining
           hall, firearms ranges, driver training ranges, a physical
           techniques facility, an explosives range, and a mock port of
           entry.

           o The Artesia, New Mexico, location was established in 1989 and is
           responsible for basic training for the U.S. Customs and Border
           Protection Border Patrol, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Transportation
           Security Administration, Federal Flight Deck Officers, and Federal
           Air Marshals.

           o The Cheltenham, Maryland, location was established in 2001 to
           provide firearms requalification and pursuit driver training
           programs for LEOs based in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan
           area. Cheltenham also provides facilities for the U.S. Capitol
           Police Academy.

           o The Charleston, South Carolina, location was established in
           FLETC in 2003 and hosts the U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Law
           Enforcement Academy and the Federal Probation and Pretrial
           Services Academy.

^10In commenting on a draft of this report, the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service stated that its investigators participate with sworn
law enforcement officers (i.e., Office of Inspector General criminal
investigators or state law enforcement officers) in conducting criminal
investigations and obtaining and executing search warrants. It added that
while these investigators do not have the authority to conduct criminal
investigations activity on their own, it ensures that they are properly
trained and prepared to independently conduct non-criminal investigations.

^11Twelve of FLETC's partner organizations did not participate in our
survey. Nine organizations are in the Department of Defense and
intelligence community, which we excluded from our scope. The other three
organizations--the Department of Interior's Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement, Department of Transportation's Federal
Aviation Administration, and Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network--indicated to us that they did not have LEOs meeting
our criteria.

^12FLETC also has international law enforcement academies in Gabarone,
Botswana; San Salvador, El Salvador; and Lima, Peru.

Of the 81 federal civilian components that reported using FLETC resources
(such as instructors, programs, and/or facilities), 37 reported using
FLETC resources exclusively to meet their basic training requirements. The
other 44 components reported using a combination of FLETC and other
training organizations. Table 3 shows the total number of components that
reported using the various FLETC locations.

Table 3: FLETC Training Facilities Used for Mandatory Law Enforcement
Basic Training Programs, as Reported by Federal Civilian Components

Source: GAO analysis of mandatory basic training survey responses.

^aThe sum of the column "Number of components using training facilities"
is greater than the 81 components that reported using FLETC resources as
some components reported receiving basic training at more than one FLETC
location.

Among the 105 federal civilian components we surveyed, 13 reported that
they did not use FLETC resources for their mandatory basic training
programs, but instead conducted their own training programs and used their
own facilities; among this group, one component, the Department of
Transportation Maritime Administration's Academy Security Force, used a
commercial vendor. These 13 components and the sources of their training
are listed in table 4.^13

Table 4: The 13 Federal Civilian Components That Reported Using Only
Non-FLETC Resources for Their Mandatory Law Enforcement Basic Training
Programs

Source: GAO analysis of mandatory basic training survey responses.

Agency Comments

We provided the 105 components that we surveyed with a draft of report for
comment. A number of components provided technical corrections, additions,
and deletions to their original responses. These technical comments were
incorporated in the report where appropriate.

^13As previously discussed, 11 components reported hiring LEOs who have
already received basic training.

As we agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce its contents
earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 30 days
after its issue date. We will make copies available to any interested
parties on request. If you have further questions, please contact me at
(202) 512-8777 or by e-mail at [16][email protected] . Contact points for
our offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on
the last page of this report. See appendix VIII for a list of key
contributors to this report.

Eileen R. Larence, Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues

Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

To identify the mandatory training programs that federal civilian
components require for their law enforcement officers (LEO), we
administered a Web-based survey that collected training information from
105 federal civilian components.^1 A copy of this survey can be viewed via
the electronic supplement link provided on page 2 of this report. The
training survey requested from each federal component a list of (1)
mandatory basic training programs for the LEOs who were authorized to
perform at least one of the four following law enforcement
functions--conduct criminal investigations, execute search warrants, make
arrests, or carry firearms; (2) topics covered by each program; (3) job
series of the LEOs required to complete each training program; (4) name of
the organization that conducted each training program; and (5) location of
each training program. This survey was administered between October 2006
and May 2007. We obtained a 100 percent response rate for the training
survey.

This report contains self-reported information from each federal civilian
LEO component surveyed. While we administered the training survey to
obtain the training information for this report, we also referred to
December 2006 report ( [17]GAO-07-121 and its electronic supplement
[18]GAO-07-223SP ) for information on law enforcement functions and job
series classifications for each LEO component. Prior to completing the
training survey, we reported on the first two Web-based surveys (law
enforcement authority survey and job series survey) in December 2006. The
first of the two surveys requested that each component state its law
enforcement mission and list the primary authorities for its LEOs to
perform any of the four specified law enforcement functions. The types of
authorities sought through the survey were those based on statutory
sources (e.g., United States Code), regulatory sources (e.g., Code of
Federal Regulations), and other sources, such as executive orders, agency
directives, or memorandums of understanding between agencies. This survey
was administered between June 2006 and October 2006. We obtained a 100
percent response rate for the law enforcement authority survey.

The second of the two surveys requested that each component list the OPM
job series or other job identifier of the LEOs who were authorized to
perform at least one of the four specified law enforcement functions
mentioned above and the number of LEOs employed for each job series and
titles as of June 30, 2006. This survey was administered between August
2006 and October 2006. We obtained a 100 percent response rate for the job
series survey.

^1There were 105 federal civilian components participating in our
mandatory law enforcement basic training survey, one more component than
in our prior work. See page 2, footnote 4, for an explanation.

Since the training survey and the two previous surveys were not sample
surveys, there are no sampling errors. However, the practical difficulties
of conducting any survey may have introduced errors, commonly referred to
as nonsampling errors. For example, the accuracy of the survey results
could have been influenced by (1) difficulties in how a particular
question was interpreted by respondents, (2) the sources of information
that were available to respondents, or (3) how we processed and analyzed
the responses we received. We took the following steps in the development
of the surveys, the data collection, and the data analysis to minimize
these potential nonsampling errors and to help ensure the accuracy of the
answers that we obtained.

To define an LEO for the purposes of our three Web-based law enforcement
surveys, we identified which types of law enforcement functions would be
used by consulting our previous work on federal law enforcement
authorities and personnel,^2 law enforcement related documentation from
the U.S. Office of Personnel Management,^3 and interviews with officials
with expertise in law enforcement functions of various civilian agencies
employing LEOs.

Additionally, we determined which federal components might employ LEOs
performing any of the four specified law enforcement functions by
compiling an initial list based on the federal agencies: listed in Federal
Law Enforcement Officers, 2002, published by the Department of Justice's
Bureau of Justice Statistics; identified as FLETC's partner organizations
and other agencies included in FLETC's 2004-2005 List of Agencies Trained
at FLETC; and listed in the Federal Citizen Information Center's Cabinet
Agencies and Independent Agencies and Commissions Directory.

^2GAO, Federal Law Enforcement: Investigative Authority and Personnel at
13 Agencies, [19]GAO/GGD-96-154 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 30, 1996);
Federal Law Enforcement: Investigative Authority and Personnel at 32
Organizations, [20]GAO/GGD-97-93 (Washington, D.C.: July 22, 1997); and
Inspectors General: Comparison of Ways Law Enforcement Authority Is
Granted, [21]GAO-02-437 (Washington, D.C.: May 22, 2002).

^3U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Law Enforcement Pay and
Benefits (Report to Congress), July 2004.

Furthermore, in our prior work as in this report, the term "federal law
enforcement officer" can be defined in numerous ways depending on the
information sought. To best meet the information needs of the requester
and the time frame for reporting, it was necessary to limit our scope to
law enforcement officers employed directly by the federal government, as
well as exclude certain agencies or components. We refined the list of
federal components to survey by submitting our initial list to the
components' parent departments and nondepartmental entities for
corrections and additions. This compilation was not intended to reflect
all personnel in the federal law enforcement community. For example, we
did not include contract services, civilian law enforcement officers and
investigators within the Department of Defense (DOD) or the DOD Offices of
Inspector General, intelligence agencies, and U.S. Attorneys within the
Department of Justice.^4

To identify the specific information to collect in the training
survey--such as components' mandatory basic training programs for law
enforcement officers; the topics covered in each training program; the
agencies, academies, vendors, or other organizations that conducted the
training; and location of each training program--we conducted initial
interviews with officials with law enforcement training expertise from the
Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice. We developed
and pretested the survey with three components with diverse missions, and
of varying sizes (e.g., National Park Service of the Department of
Interior, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the Department of
Homeland Security, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office) to
identify unclear and ambiguous questions. Upon completion of the pretest,
we made the necessary changes to the final survey prior to nationwide
implementation.

To help ensure that the training survey was sent to knowledgeable
component officials (e.g., officials with law enforcement training
knowledge), we requested that the designated GAO liaisons of each
component identify these knowledgeable officials and provide their contact
information. As necessary, we also followed up with these officials to
clarify survey responses.

^4According to a DOJ official, many DOJ attorneys are authorized to
conduct criminal investigations and routinely manage such investigations
as Assistant United States Attorneys, Legal Division Trial Attorneys, or
in related positions.

All of the data in this report are what were reported by the 105 federal
civilian components through our three Web-based surveys. We did not
independently verify the accuracy of all the information provided to us.
We did, however, after receiving the completed surveys, examine the survey
results and perform computer analyses to identify inconsistencies and
other possible indications of error. An independent analyst reviewed all
the computer programs used in the processing of the data. Also, in March
2007, we returned copies of the training survey responses to the 105
federal civilian components to make any corrections to their original
responses. Further, we conducted quality control checks via telephone and
e-mail with the survey respondents to follow up on possible internal data
inconsistencies or other issues needing clarification, such as unanswered
questions or data entry errors. A number of the components provided
technical corrections, additions, and/or deletions to their original
responses and some were incorporated where appropriate in a draft of the
report sent to the components for comment. After taking these steps, we
continued to find that some survey respondents reported different program
titles, program durations, training organizations, and/or topics covered
for the same FLETC training programs. We reconciled the program titles but
not all of the other differences. The information shown in the report and
the electronic supplement represents what the agencies provided. An
example of these differences is the Criminal Investigator Training
Program. Respondents from 52 federal civilian law enforcement components
referred to this program by 16 different program titles and inserted
program information that included 9 different program durations and 45
different combinations of the training topics covered. According to FLETC
officials, FLETC conducts the Criminal Investigator Training Program in
the same manner for all who take it and the program currently lasts 11
weeks.

Appendix II: The 105 Federal Civilian Components GAO Surveyed 

Source: GAO.

^aIn commenting on a draft of this report, the Department of the Interior
informed us that the name of this component should read "Department of the
Interior, National Park Service, Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency
Services." In GAO-07-121 and its electronic supplement GAO-07-223SP, this
component was known as "National Park Service, Ranger Activities."

Appendix III: The 76 Unique Basic Training Programs Reported as Mandatory

This appendix presents two related tables. Table 5 presents information on
all but one of the unique basic training programs reported as mandatory.
The one program that was omitted in this table--FLETC's Criminal
Investigator Training Program--was cited most by 52 components.
Information for this program is presented separately in table 6.

Table 5: The 76 Unique Basic Training Programs Reported as Mandatory by
the Federal Civilian Components

Source: GAO analysis of mandatory basic training survey results.

aIn commenting on a draft of this report, the Federal Reserve Board's
Security Unit stated that it also uses FLETC resources during the firearms
training of its mandatory basic law enforcement training program.

Table 6 shows the one remaining unique program--FLETC's Criminal
Investigator Training Program--that was omitted in table 5.

Table 6: FLETC's Criminal Investigator Training Program Reported as
Mandatory by 52 Federal Civilian Components

Source: GAO analysis of mandatory basic training survey results.

Appendix IV: All LEO Job Series Classifications and Their Mandatory Basic
Training Programs

This appendix presents two related tables. Table 7 presents information on
all but four of the job series classifications. The four classifications
that were omitted in this table--0080, 0083, 1801, and 1811--are used by
the most components. Information for these four is presented separately in
table 8.

Table 7: LEO Job Series Classifications and Their Mandatory Basic Training
Programs (Excluding 0080, 0083, 1801, and 1811) as Reported by the 105
Federal Civilian Components.

Source: GAO analysis of mandatory basic training survey results.

aSee [22]GAO-07-121 , appendix IX, for a list of all 159 OPM job series
used by DOJ, Federal Bureau of Prisons.

^bDOJ, Federal Bureau of Prisons uses the 0080 and 0085 job series and
requires two basic training programs: Institution Familiarization and
Introduction to Corrections Techniques.

Table 8 presents information on the four classifications that were used by
the most components--0080, 0083, 1801, and 1811--and omitted in table 7.

Table 8: The 0080, 0083, 1801, and 1811 Job Series Classifications and
Their Mandatory Basic Training, as Reported by the 105 Federal Civilian
Components

Source: GAO analysis of mandatory basic training survey results.

Appendix V: The 61 Organizations, Excluding FLETC, Conducting the
Mandatory Basic Training Programs and Their Training Locations as Reported
by the Federal Civilian Components

Source: GAO analysis of mandatory basic training survey results.

^aThis component reported using only non-FLETC training resources.

^bIn commenting on a draft of this report, the Federal Reserve Board's
Security Unit stated that it also uses FLETC resources during the firearms
training of its mandatory basic law enforcement training program.

Appendix VI: The 11 Federal Civilian Components Tht Reported Hiring LEOs
Who Had Already Taken Basic Training for Previous Law Enforcement
Positions

Source: GAO analysis of mandatory basic training survey results.

^aThis component has specific mandatory basic training programs for one of
more other LEO job series it uses.

Note: In commenting on a draft of this report, the Federal Reserve Board
stated that its Chairman's Protection Unit tends to hire special agents
who have prior FLETC training. Because the Chairman's Protection Unit
answered in its survey that it had a mandatory basic training program, we
did not include it in this list.

Appendix VII: FLETC's 83 Partner Organizations

Source: FLETC.

aWe excluded the components of the Department of Defense and intelligence
community from our survey scope. The other Partner organizations not
participating in our survey informed us that they did not have LEOs
meeting our criteria, that an LEO must have the authority to perform at
least one of the specified four law enforcement functions.

National Gallery of Art^a(440561)

Appendix VIII: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Eileen Regen Larence (202) 512-8777 or [23][email protected]

Acknowledgments

The following teams and individuals made key contributors to this report:
Amy Bernstein, Orlando Copeland, Bill Crocker, Sam Hinojosa, and Su Jin
Yon, Homeland Security and Justice; David Alexander, Alice Feldesman, Evan
Gilman, Art James, Matt Michaels, Lynn Milan, and John Mingus, Applied
Research & Methods; and Jan B. Montgomery and Geoffrey Hamilton, General
Counsel.

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[30]www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-815 .

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Highlights of [32]GAO-07-815 , a report to congressional requesters

August2007

FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT

Survey of Federal Civilian Law Enforcement Mandatory Basic Training

Federal law enforcement officers (LEO) are required to complete mandatory
basic training in order to exercise their law enforcement authorities.

GAO was asked to identify federal mandatory law enforcement basic training
programs. This report builds on GAO's prior work surveying federal
civilian law enforcement components regarding their functions and
authorities (see GAO-07-121, December 2006). GAO defined an LEO as an
individual authorized to perform any of four functions: conduct criminal
investigations, execute search warrants, make arrests, or carry firearms.
In this report GAO describes (1) the mandatory basic law enforcement
training that the components reported requiring their LEOs to complete and
the federal law enforcement job series classifications for which basic
training programs are mandatory; and (2) a breakdown of the delivery of
the of basic training programs, by type of organization providing the
training and location.

To conduct this work, GAO administered a Web-based survey to 105 federal
civilian law enforcement components. Each was requested to self-report on,
required basic training programs for LEOs, the organizations conducting
the training, training locations, and the job series for which programs
are mandatory. GAO is not making recommendations.

Based on the responses of the 105 federal civilian law enforcement
components surveyed, GAO identified 76 unique mandatory basic training
programs. Among these, four programs in particular were cited by the
components more often than others as mandatory for their LEOs (see table).
Of the remaining 72 unique basic training programs, each was common to
just one to three components. Some of these basic training programs are
required for job series classifications representing large portions of the
overall LEO population. For example, newly hired employees at the Federal
Bureau of Prisons encompass 159 different job series classifications. This
large number of job series classifications is required to take the same
two unique basic training programs.

Of the 105 components surveyed, 37 components reported exclusively using
the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)--the largest single
provider of law enforcement training for the federal government. Another
44 components reported using a combination of FLETC and other training
organizations, including their own organization, a federal or state law
enforcement agency, or commercial vendor. Thirteen components reported
that they did not use FLETC but instead conducted their own training
programs and used their own facilities. Eleven components reported hiring
LEOs who had already received basic training.

The Four Basic Training Programs Required Most Often by the Components for
Their LEOs

Source: GAO analysis of mandatory basic training survey responses.

^aSome of these components required more than one program. For example,
all 15 components requiring the Inspector General Investigator Training
Program also required the Criminal Investigator Training Program.

A draft of this report was provided for comment to the agencies included
in the survey. Their technical comments were incorporated as appropriate.

References

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  12. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-121
  13. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-223SP
  14. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-1066SP
  15. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-121
  16. mailto:[email protected]
  17. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-121
  18. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-223SP
  19. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/GGD-96-154
  20. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/GGD-97-93
  21. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-02-437
  22. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-121
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  30. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-815
  31. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-1066SP
  32. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-815
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