LA Port Police Regional Law Enforcement Maritime Training Center

Located next door to LAFD Fire Station 49, Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano toured a new training facility for law enforcement at sea Monday and discuss heightened security measures to combat terrorism at the Port of Los Angeles.
 

Napolitano toured the Maritime Law Enforcement Training Center with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Police Chief Charlie Beck and other dignitaries. The center will provide state and local agencies with updated training on maritime boardings, arrest procedures, vessel identification, searches and counter-terrorism procedures, officials said.

The course will be based on Federal Law Enforcement Training Center(FLETC) curriculum, and will be developed jointly by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles Port Police, Long Beach Police Department and FLETC staff.

The five-week program trains law enforcement personnel on various boating laws, maritime intelligence and how to spot terrorist threats or weapons of mass destruction that could pose a danger to cargo and cruise vessels.  Instruction will include the nation's first curricula approved by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and California Emergency Management Agency.  Police officers across the country can now undergo five weeks of maritime security training at a new operations center that opened Monday at the Port of Los Angeles. 

Classes will be held at the new $16.1 million Maritime Law Enforcement Training Center in San Pedro, which was funded by federal and state grants. The facility is equipped with classrooms, a helicopter landing pad and floating docks. 

The new training facility also is expected to help relieve a backlog in training law enforcement officials on federal security protocols, Napolitano said. The first class at the Port of Los Angeles began two weeks ago with 24 officers.