The Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (FLETA) Board ispleased to announce it granted program initial accreditation status tothe Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Federal Air MarshalService’s (FAMS) Defensive Measures Instructor Training Program andreaccreditation to the Instructor Development Course at the April 25,2013 meeting in Brunswick, Georgia.
The Defensive Measures Instructor Training Program (DMITP) is afive-day program designed to qualify instructors to teach the approvedFAMS Defensive Measures curriculum. It is a principle-based programthat utilizes realistic training environments and state of the arttraining aids to ensure the highest quality training for the FAMSworkforce. Upon completion, participants are certified to teachdefensive measures, as well as annually certify FAMs on thebaton.
Defensive Measures are one of many critical skills that Federal AirMarshals rely on to deter and defeat hostile acts against U.S. aircarriers, passengers, and crews. Federal Air Marshals deploy onpassenger flights worldwide to protect airline passengers and crewagainst the risk of criminal and terrorist violence. In addition totheir airborne assignments, Federal Air Marshals also performinvestigative work on multi-agency task forces and are assigned toother ground-based transportation security initiatives to proactivelyfight terrorism. Federal Air Marshals promote public confidence in thesafety of the nation's aviation system as "quiet professionals" in theskies.
The Instructor Development Course (IDC) is a five-day programdelivered to FAMS and TSA instructors. The IDC is intended foremployees with little or no formal training experience who have beenassigned to instructor roles. The course objective is forstudents to work with IDC faculty to design and develop a 30-minutelesson which the students deliver on the final day of the course.
The FLETA Board is the accrediting body for all federal lawenforcement training and support programs. To achieve accreditation,agencies submit to an independent review of their academy and/orprogram to ensure compliance with the FLETA Standards and Procedures in the areas of: Program Administration, Training Staff, TrainingDevelopment, and Training Delivery, with an additional 20 standards forAcademies. Accreditation is a cyclical process occurring every threeyears. Each year, agencies must submit annual reports in preparationfor reaccreditation, which is a new and independent review of theacademy/program.