Posted by the Office of Public Affairs
Today, Secretary Napolitano visited the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Artesia, New Mexico, to tour the facility and participate in a U.S. Border Patrol Change-of-Command ceremony at FLETCs U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol Academy.
During the Change-of-Command ceremony, Secretary Napolitano thanked outgoing Chief Border Patrol Agent Scott Luck for his outstanding work in preparing Border Patrol Agents to serve on the frontlines and protect our nation’s borders, and welcomed incoming Chief Border Patrol Agent Roberto Correa to his new post.
During her remarks, Secretary Napolitano underscored the critical role of the Border Patrol Academy in giving all of our Border Patrol agents – wherever they serve – the tools and skills they need to succeed in the challenging and important work they do each day to help secure our nation.
Following the ceremony, Secretary Napolitano toured the facilities at FLETC-Artesia and viewed Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) cockpit training simulators. FFDOs are flight crewmembers authorized and trained by the Transportation Security Administration Office of Law Enforcement/Federal Air Marshal Service to use firearms to defend against an act of criminal violence or air piracy – one of our multiple layers of aviation security.
As one of three residential training sites in the United States, FLETC-Artesia includes a full range of facilities for conducting basic and advanced law enforcement training. The Border Patrol consolidated all of its training activities at the Center in September 2004.
FLETC provides law enforcement training for 89 Federal agencies as well as state, local, campus, tribal, and international law enforcement agencies--training nearly 940,000 law enforcement officers and agents nationwide since its inception in 1970.