THE
BADDEST TOWN IN AMERICA
And the FBI Owns
It.
01/31/05
Hogan's Alley? Oh
yeah, it's a hot bed of terrorist and criminal activity. Its only bank
is robbed at least twice a week. Mobsters and drug dealers lurk around
every corner.
Exactly the way
we want it.
We put Hogan's
Alley on the map in 1987 to provide a realistic training ground for
our new agents. It's located on more than 10 acres at our
Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Today, we share the mock town
with new DEA recruits, as well as with state, local, federal, and international
partners who are at the Academy for training.
How realistic
is Hogan's Alley? Very. We built it with the help of Hollywood
set designers. Like many small towns, it's got a bank, a post office,
a hotel, a laundromat, a
barber shop, a pool hall, homes, shops,
and more. There's a constant flow of people and traffic.
You can even get a bite to eat at the local deli.
But don't
look too closely. The cars parked outside "Honest
Jim's" aren't really for sale, although a contract painter
once tried to buy one. The "Dogwood
Inn Restaurant" is actually a classroom. The post office doesn't
deliver and the town's two mailboxes have been welded shut (they kept
filling up with real letters!). And don't try to buy a ticket for the Manhattan
Melodrama at the "Biograph
Theater"--inside is a working FBI office. (Your first clue:
both names are part of FBI
history.)
What do our
new Agents learn at Hogan's Alley? The latest investigative
techniques, firearms skills, and defensive tactics. They investigate
terrorist activities ... plan and
make arrests ... process evidence at crime scenes ... conduct interviews
and searches ... use ballistic shields
as protection ... "clear" areas
so they're safe to enter ... and get into paint-ball gun fights
with "criminals." All with the help of local actors we've
hired to play both "bad guys" and innocent bystanders.
There are
plenty of surprises along the way. We've asked some of our
actors to resist arrest and to turn seemingly routine events into life-and-death
situations. That way, our new agents learn how to respond under fire.
The bottom
line? Our town helps protect your towns.
It's a place where our agents and partners learn how to defend themselves--and
the American people.
Related links: The
FBI Academy
P.S. Curious where
we got the name Hogan's Alley? Turns out, we borrowed it from the "Hogan's
Alley" comic strip of the late 1800s. The alley was located in
a rough neighborhood, so we thought the name fit our crime-ridden town.
