Nearly 70,000 law enforcement officers from across the U.S. took courses last year at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco., Ga., a Department of Homeland Security facility so sprawling it has its own ZIP code. They practiced on 18 firearms ranges and ran armed drills inside a mock train station, an airport terminal and a Main Street. Yesterday, only 45 of 1,000 employees were at work, with the rest officially furloughed under the federal shutdown.
The dormitories, mess halls, laboratories and other parts of the vast complex — plus nearby hotels, beach resorts and shops that depend on it — were mostly quiet. All courses were suspended. Some 91 federal law enforcement agencies and partner organizations use the training center, including the U.S. Border Patrol, the Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. State, local, tribal, territorial and international agencies also send trainees. About 1 million officers and agents have taken courses at the center since it opened in 1970