Academy gives inside look of FBI

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Chandler Baker
  • Kirtland Public Affairs
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico --  

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering an inside look to members of the local community through the FBI Citizens Academy.

The FBI Citizens Academy is a free nine-week course designed to showcase the day-to-day operations of the FBI to citizens and leaders in the community.

“This academy strengthens our partnerships with the local community through transparency,” said Samantha Madrid, FBI Albuquerque Field Office community outreach specialist. “Many people attend the academy and find things out about the FBI that they never knew.”

The academy, taught by FBI special agents, offers firearms training, counterterrorism training and more. Another training, unique to the Albuquerque office, is reservation jurisdiction training. With the large amount of Native American reservations in New Mexico, the FBI cooperates with the law enforcement on the reservations in different ways.

The class has been conducted in Albuquerque annually since 2006, with roughly 30-40 participants. Members of Team Kirtland are encouraged to participate because of the skill sets military members can bring to the classroom. The class is on Wednesday nights from 5:45 to 9 p.m. at the Albuquerque Field Office from March 1 to April 26 of 2018.

“Sometimes the military members we get in the classes bring up entirely different experiences and ideas our instructors never thought of,” said Frank Fisher, FBI Albuquerque Field Office public affairs officer. “We usually get maybe two or three military members from Kirtland in our classes and we wouldn’t mind having a few more.”

A special incentive of the firearms training class, which is held on a separate day from the normal classes, is learning how to fire the Thompson submachine gun, a classic weapon from the early 1900s that began the modern era of machine guns.

After completing the Citizens Academy, attendees may join the Citizens Academy Alumni Association, which allows members to have access to tours of FBI headquarters at Quantico, Virginia, invitations to meet current and former FBI directors, and more.

The application process is open until Sept. 22. Interested applicants need a nomination from an FBI employee, a former Citizens Academy graduate, or a community leader. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age with no prior felony convictions or under investigation as a subject to a criminal case. A background check will be conducted as well.

For more information on the Citizens Academy, go to https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/albuquerque/community-outreach