AST Digital Magazine August 2017 Digital-Aug | Page 60

Volume 15 niques and are immersed in realistic scenarios in Hogan’s Alley, the mock town and training facility at the FBI Academy. August 2017 Edition accurately.” Trainees must qualify in a series of tests to graduate. Just behind Hogan’s Alley, trainees are speeding around a 1.1-mile road track and weaving their cars around orange cones on the precision ob- stacle course. An instructor is closely watching the maneuvers as new agents push their way to the finish. The driving techniques learned at the Academy’s Tactical Emergency Vehicle Operations Center, or TEVOC, prepare agents to handle a variety of dangerous situations like high-speed chases and reversing out of alleyways under fire. (New agents learn to shoot a pistol, shotgun, and carbine at the FBI Academy. Rhys Williams, a special agent and in- structor with the Firearms Training Unit, explains how and why new agent trainees achieve proficiency with their weap- ons during their time at Quantico. Courtesy of the FBI and YouTube) Just a few blocks from the indoor range sits a large field house. (Take a virtual ride in this 360-degree video shot on the FBI Academy’s precision obstacle course as an instructor ex- plains what types of maneuvers new agents are tested on behind the wheel. Best viewed on laptop or desktop. Courtesy of the FBI and YouTube) Trainees also spend hundreds of hours across the Academy campus on the range, shooting countless rounds of ammunition. New agents need to protect innocent lives and may be faced with dangerous encounters in the line of duty, so it’s necessary to become proficient with a variety of firearms, including the pistol, shotgun, and carbine. “One of the most important things that we stress at the Academy is firearms training,” said Myers. “We spend a lot of time with trainees teaching them how to handle firearms safely and to shoot Inside the building, a sea of blue exercise mats line the floor, along with fake padded furniture and a partial replica of a commercial airplane— items used by instructors to teach close-quarter defensive tactics like boxing, grappling, disarm- ing, and searching. In one of the drills, a subject (actually another trainee) refuses to stand up from his desk and be handcuffed, forcing agents to wrestle him to the ground. As they bump up against the padded furniture, it takes two agents to subdue their subject. It’s all over in a matter of seconds, but the realis- tic exercise simulates what could happen when criminals turn violent during an arrest. For those students without any previous law enforcement or military experience, the tactical training can be one of the most challenging as- pects of their time at the Academy. They may have never thrown a punch, shot a 60