Artesia, New Mexico

The Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC), Office of Artesia Operations (OAO), is one of three FLETC residential training sites in the United States. Named for the town where it is located in the heart of southeast New Mexico’s oil and dairy belt, the 3,620-acre site includes a full range of facilities for conducting basic and advanced law enforcement training.

The 220-acre Main Campus contains offices, dormitories, classrooms, physical training facilities, raid houses, practical exercise areas, international border fences, a mock courtroom, and one emergency driver training range.  Support facilities include a health unit, a cafeteria, a student center and student laundromat. One of the most recent additions is a beautiful new auditorium for meetings and graduation ceremonies.

Additional driver, firearms, practical applications, and tactical training operations occur at a secondary campus commonly referred to as the Range Complex which consists of approximately 3,480 acres.  The Range Complex includes 450 firing points in both indoor and outdoor ranges, three non-lethal shoot house aircraft, emergency driving and off-road driving tracks and both pistol and driving simulators.   The facilities across both Artesia campuses are designed to provide a wide range of real-world training opportunities for our students.

FLETC Artesia is home to the United States Border Patrol (USBP) and Bureau of Indian Affairs Law Enforcement Academies as well as a TSA Training Center which trains private pilots from across the industry to become certified as Federal Flight Deck Officers and a portion of the basic training for Federal Air Marshals. The Uniformed Police Training Program is another basic training program taught at Artesia.  This program resides at both the Artesia and Glynco locations ensuring that maximum throughput to serve our federal customers is met.  FLETC Artesia provides many other basic and advanced training programs taught both locally and at various hosted locations including international.

In the late 1980’s Artesia Mayor Ernest Thompson was instrumental in forming a community coalition to raise funds to purchase the land upon which the Artesia FLETC currently sits.  The campus which was established as a small liberal arts college and later a private Christian college had been vacant for a number of years.  Mayor Thompson was aware of discussion within the federal government to establish a law enforcement training center in the southwest portion of the country.  Mayor Thompson and the coalition proposed Artesia as a viable location and in September of 1988 following the passage of the Treasury, Postal Service and General Government Appropriations Act, House Resolution 4775 ownership transferred from the City of Artesia to the United States Government Department of Treasury.  The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia was officially opened on October 1, 1989

The Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer Memorial site was designed with the Native American traditions in mind.

The Memorial is encompassed by the Circle of Life. The circle is broken in one location to allow for entrance and departure. There is sage planted in all four directions next to the memorial to sanctify the site. The four planter areas are filled with white, yellow, black and red rocks and foliage. This indicates the nationalities of the world and indicates that we are all brothers/sisters in the world.

The formation area is done in earth-tone brown indicating mother earth. The foliage next to the formation area also has been configured in a manner as it relates to the Native American beliefs and traditions.

Upon completion of these ceremonies this site will remain sacred ground for all Indian nations. See a list of the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers who have fallen in the line of duty.