The Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (FLETA) Board is pleased to announce it granted accreditation status to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Basic Import Specialist Training Program (BIST) at the July 15, 2010 meeting in Clearwater, Florida.
Import Specialists are non-uniformed personnel who serve as the frontline personnel with regard to scrutinizing entry and entry summary documentation. They are considered “the experts” with regard to admissibility issues, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) violations, import safety, Free Trade Agreements, and other priority trade issues. Import Specialists have unique skills that play a vital role in the anti-terrorism effort, developing relationships with the trade community that could provide valuable information on corrupted trade transactions. They also have the ability to thoroughly search the automated systems and build a case for suspected connections to terrorism.
FLETA Board Member Paul Baker noted that 985 Import Specialists process approximately 30.8 million entry summaries per year, totaling about $3.2 trillion worth of international merchandise. Additionally, CBP collects almost $34.5 billion in revenues per year, second only to the IRS. Commander Baker thanked the assessment team for their work and mentioned two Best Practices they identified: 1) As part of risk analysis, a Therblig overview time motion study of each act and movement required by the student to complete every task in a given block of training, and 2) a multi-layer system with five different mechanisms for keeping records.
To achieve accreditation, an agency must undergo a voluntary thorough assessment of their academy and/or program to ensure compliance with the FLETA standards. These professional standards were developed to increase agency effectiveness and efficiency. The standards address the following areas: Academy Administration; Qualifications and Development of Training Staff; Program Administration; and Program and Curriculum Development. To maintain accredited status, agencies are required to submit annual reports to the FLETA Board and participate in a reaccreditation process every three years.
The FLETA Board is nationally recognized by federal law enforcement agencies, as well as stakeholders in law enforcement training. It is the Board’s goal to improve the federal law enforcement community with each accreditation, and the Board has now awarded 39 program accreditations and 13 academy accreditations.
If you would like more information regarding the FLETA process, please visit the website at www.FLETA.gov or contact FLETA at 912-261-3684.