As of Oct 1, if you are a Coast Guard law enforcement (LE) instructor at your unit, you are required to take the eight-day Law Enforcement Instructor (LEI) Resident Course to maintain your designation. If you are a reservist who qualifies, you can submit a waiver exemption from this requirement. However, after the Oct. 1 deadline, you will not be able to continue your LEI duties at your unit. Maintain your LEI qualification and get your waiver in now for LEI-C.
Do I qualify for an exemption?
As a reservist, in order to qualify for an exemption, you must be a full-time civilian law enforcement professional, a designated training officer, or equivalent through your agency, and have already met the prerequisites for the LEI curriculum. Once you have fulfilled the requirements, the exemption permits you to be awarded the LEI Direct Access competency code and be designated as a unit LEI.
“Talent management is a key aspect of the Commandant’s Ready Workforce 2030 strategy. Reservists bring a tremendous amount of skill and experience to the Coast Guard,” said Cmdr. Nolan Cain, deputy division chief of the Office of Law Enforcement (CG-MLE-2). “Leveraging the expertise of field training officers from other agencies bolsters our organization’s ability to provide high quality law enforcement training throughout the fleet.”
The LEI Resident Course began several years ago as a result of a study that identified a need for a standardized instructional program. One of the recommendations out of the analysis was to develop a comprehensive residential training course where all prospective law enforcement instructors could immerse themselves in approved LE curriculum, practice their instructor capabilities, and then return to their unit and teach.
After launching the LEI Resident Course, the Office of Maritime Law Enforcement saw an increase in the quality of LE professionals through annual unit LE readiness assessments. Test scores rose in both knowledge-based examinations as well as physical demonstrations. Following these positive results, in 2017 the Office of Maritime Law Enforcement announced the program is mandatory for all law enforcement instructors, starting Oct. 1.
In October 2021, the Office of Maritime Law Enforcement reminded the fleet of the requirement for LE professionals to take the LEI Resident course by the start of fiscal year 2023. Since then, the office has seen an increase in training requests and has been able to send the maximum number of students through the course every session.
Although there are 441 LE designated units throughout the Coast Guard, there are only 280 opportunities to attend school this year. Other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies also send personnel to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in South Carolina for training, which limits the number of available spaces for Coast Guard members. On top of that, the impacts of the pandemic have created overall delays in training.
Recognizing space limitation, the Office of Maritime Law Enforcement needed to determine the best way to train both active duty members as well as give reservists the credit they deserve for their civilian jobs. Since many reservists are full-time law enforcement officers and many are field training officers, it makes sense to allow eligible reservists to request an exemption for the LEI-C and receive credit for their civilian work.
“In the week following the exemption announcement for qualified reservists, we have seen a 200% increase in reservists eligible for the law enforcement instructor designation at operational units as compared to the last two years,” stated Chief Warrant Officer 4 Lee Conroy of the Office of Maritime Law Enforcement.
Such strategic thinking and problem-solving goes hand-in-hand with the Commandant’s Ready Workforce 2030 (RW2030). A big portion of RW 2030 being talent management, the Office of Maritime Law Enforcement implements that concept through planning curriculum, delegating resources, and capitalizing on and championing talent within the reserve component.
To get started, as a qualifying reserve member, you need to complete your waiver request form, and make sure your commanding officer (CO) or officer in charge (OIC) endorses it. The CO/OinC will need to route your request through that unit’s operational commander. Once endorsed, they can then email your waiver request to the program manager.
In the News:
Resources:
- MLE-2 Website
- Implementation of Law Enforcement Instructor Course (LEI-C) (100164) Requirement for LEI Competency ACN 092/21 (link CAC enabled)
- Implementation of Law Enforcement Instructor Course (100164) ACN 127/17 (Link CAC enabled)