|
|
Domestic
Training
The curriculum is a 16-week resident program that places strong emphasis upon leadership, ethics, and human dignity. Academic instruction provides the basics of report writing, law, automated information systems, and drug recognition, as well as leadership and ethics. Underpinning the instruction is a rigorous 84-hour physical fitness and defensive tactics regimen designed to prepare new Special Agents to prevail in compliant and non-compliant arrest scenarios. Students receive 122 hours of firearms training including basic marksmanship, weapons safety, tactical shooting, and deadly force decision training. An integral part of Basic Agent training is an emphasis upon respect for human life, leadership and ethics, human dignity, and sound judgment in the use of deadly force. During the training, students are required to apply their classroom knowledge in a series of increasingly demanding practical exercises designed to test leadership, decisiveness, and knowledge of procedures and techniques that will be used in the field. In order to graduate, students must maintain an academic average of 80 percent on academic examinations, pass the firearms qualification test, successfully demonstrate leadership and sound decision-making in practical scenarios, and pass rigorous physical task tests. Upon graduation, students are sworn in as DEA Special Agents and assigned to DEA field offices located across the United States. Previous Section | TOC | Next Section
|
Over
the past five years, the Office of Training has graduated more than 1,800
DEA Special Agents from our Basic Agent Training program. Typically, class
sizes range from 40 to 50 Basic Agent trainees. The average age of these students
is 30 years. Approximately 60 percent of all trainees arrive with prior law
enforcement experience, while 30 percent come from a military background. Every
student must possess a bachelor’s degree and nearly 20 percent have some
post-graduate educational experience.