Domestic Training
State and Local Training

Drug Unit Commanders Academy

The Drug Unit Commanders Academy (DUCA) is a two-week state and local school designed for commanders of state, local, and federal drug enforcement units. The program provides training in areas such as tactical aspects of drug enforcement, operational planning, confidential source management, clandestine laboratory operations, leadership of the undercover process, legal issues for management, executive decision making, professionalism within the ranks, and much more. The Office of Training conducts six academies a year and pays all costs associated with the training. The schools are held at the DEA Training Academy. Special Agents in Charge may nominate two people from their division for each DUCA.

Narcotics Commander Leadership Program

This one-week program provides 40 hours of leadership development training to state and local first-level and mid-level narcotics supervisors. The program provides the supervisors with knowledge, skills, and abilities that will enhance their ability to supervise, motivate, and evaluate narcotics officers and meet the unique challenges presented to a narcotics supervisor. This school is presented in the field on behalf of the requesting DEA field division. To date, the program has been conducted in Biloxi, Mississippi; East Windsor, New Jersey; Dallas, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Washington, D.C.; and Denver, Colorado. Future programs are scheduled to be held in Boston, Massachusetts; Columbus, Ohio; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and New York, New York.

Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)

The Office of Training has one full-time Special Agent/Instructor assigned to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia. Together with FLETC, The Office of Training is able to provide three high-quality training programs for state and local police officers in rural areas of the United States. These programs are designed to be conducted at or near local police departments and are tuition-free. The three programs provided through this joint initiative are the Drug Law Enforcement School for Patrol Officers (DLESP), the Drug Enforcement Training Program (DETP) Train-the-Trainer school, and the Drug Task Force Supervisors School (DTFSS). The DLESP is a three-day program that provides updated training to police officers to assist them in detecting drug-related crime in their communities. The DETP is a five-day course of instruction designed for secondary delivery by the trainers with a detailed program guide, student handouts, instructional aids, and suggested practical exercises. The Drug Task Force Supervisors School (DTFSS) is designed to provide updated managerial training to supervisors and commanders assigned to multi-agency drug task forces.

Enhancing Academy Programs Through Training Partnerships

Over the past two years, the Office of Training has worked very closely with the Department of Defense (DoD) to maximize training resources and develop training partnerships, which provide expanded counterdrug training opportunities for state and local law enforcement agencies. These partnerships have proven to be instrumental in establishing consistent, standardized counterdrug instruction, which results in establishing credible levels of performance, improving the interoperability of multi-agency counterdrug operations, and improving officer/personnel safety.

The DoD and the National Guard Bureau (NGB) are Congressionally funded to sponsor and maintain regional training centers for training state and local law enforcement personnel in counterdrug topics. Brigadier General Steven Curry, Commandant of the United States Military Police School, and the Directors of the National Guard Counterdrug Training Centers expressed their desire to be more closely associated with DEA in the planning and execution of their training programs. Their training centers have the infrastructure (classrooms, training facilities/ranges, lodging, and food service facilities), but often lack the counterdrug subject matter expertise to provide the training unilaterally or to identify training requirements based upon drug trafficking trends. They look to DEA as the proponent for counterdrug training doctrine and for subject matter experts to assist them in developing and executing their training programs. DEA is now teaching courses at various DoD training centers throughout the United States, thus allowing for more state and local training programs to be executed within a training year.

Currently, the Office of Training is working with the National Interagency Civil/Military Institute, the Regional Counterdrug Training Academy, and the Multi-jurisdictional Counterdrug Task Force Training Center to develop and implement regional counterdrug training programs. These programs will be designed to address regional training needs at the state and local level, and will serve to enhance the interoperability of law enforcement personnel at all levels.

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