Working in public safety has its perks, especially for those willing to put in the time and effort to better improve their industry skills by taking on additional training. This was so with my experience while working for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA), where I learned the importance of passenger screening and aviation security, and had the opportunity to improve my skill sets by attending additional training with the FBI's Training Division, which was through what is known in the law enforcement world as the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal, or LEEP.
Without divulging too much information, I will say that during that time, which was winter of 2016, LEEP was open to all law enforcement, public safety, and law enforcement support personnel (ex. security contractors, etc.), though their vetting process has since changed. Nevertheless, for those to whom this training is currently available, I cannot stress the importance of adding this kind of training to your experience and resume, as such isn't too advanced, but mainly focuses on familiarity in certain topics, with literally thousands of online training modules to choose from. Of course, for those who are vetted law enforcement, access to training is more advanced and in depth than that which is available to those in public safety and security. All training takes place within the FBI's Virtual Academy, which can be accessed through LEEP, along with many other sites and resources which are available to those authorized. In my case, getting access was a matter of filling out an online application, and waiting for approval, which took approximately 1 month.
What is great about the FBI's Virtual Academy is that it has law enforcement and intelligence specific training, especially for those currently vetted as law enforcement officers (LEO's), and training which is designed to suit just about any industry out there, from government contracting, to operating a fork lift, to electrical safety, the training content has a vast variety of topics to choose from, and something which can benefit all persons working in law enforcement, public safety, and security, as whatever your post is, this academy, more likely than not, has the training modules to accommodate your specific learning needs.
Once students successfully complete a course, they have the option of printing out a Certificate of Completion, and/or a consolidated record of training as seen in the above FBI Official Record of Training. How cool, right? I have personally completed approximately 104 hours of FBI Training, in addition to all the other security and law enforcement training which I currently have, which ranges from Nevada's Correctional Officer Academy, Department of Justice' Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. National Guard Bureau, Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, and more. I know, I know, "don't show off now!?"
So, if you are in the field of law enforcement, public safety, or security, even cyber security, especially for those working as government contractors, this may be a good training option to explore, as the areas of interest are vast and cover different various areas of our day to day lives.
Written by: Anton Iagounov