That Would Never Work...Would It?

On March 2, 2006, The Spokesman Review published an op-ed piece I wrote. The newspaper headlined the article Bi-state effort answer to jail overcrowding. The headline notwithstanding, the overall theme of my suggestion was the creation of a regional criminal justice center that would include, among other things, a regional training center for public safety officers.

A few people have contacted me to talk about this. One concern is that combined interstate public safety training would not work well. How could agencies with different jurisdictions train together efficiently and effectively? That would never work...would it?

Yes, it not only would work, it has been working since 1970. It's the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). FLETC serves as an interagency law enforcement training organization for 81 Federal agencies. The Center also provides services to state, local, and international law enforcement agencies. Here's a link to the FLETC Training Programs page. Click on any of the programs to see more about course content.

I would hope that if the States of Washington and Idaho supported efforts by Spokane and Kootenai Counties to work toward a regional training center, Senators Cantwell, Murray, Crapo, and Craig would facilitate helpful meetings between regional leaders and FLETC administrators. The FLETC could easily serve as a model for a regional public safety training center.