Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest

In response to an increasing level of international crime with many of the criminal enterprises having their roots in Central and Eastern Europe, the governments of the United States and Hungary signed an agreement in 1995 to create the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Diplomacy and Trade covered the topic in its previous issue.

ILEA is administered by the U.S. State Department as it is in the interests of the United States and the international law enforcement community to help the police services of the countries of the region in an effort to thwart such criminal enterprises before they migrate and to build partnerships in detecting and prosecuting them once identified.

The institution is one of five such regional establishments around the world, with the others being in Bangkok, Thailand; Gaborone, Botswana; San Salvador, El Salvador and Roswell, NM in the United States.

Cooperation and professional activity

In Budapest, ILEA is staffed with two American accredited diplomats: the director, who is an FBI supervisory special agent, and the deputy director, who is a Diplomatic Security Service (U.S. Department of State) supervisory special agent. The American Director manages the Academy independently, directs and supervises the cooperation and professional activity of the units. Thus, although based in Budapest, ILEA is not part of the Hungarian public administration. The remainder of the staff is comprised of Hungarian citizens. The Hungarian Director keeps daily contact with the Academy, provides staff and acts as a general service provider.

ILEA offers training opportunities for up to 130 delegates at one time. The eight-week-long Law Enforcement Executive Development (LEED) course program is administered five times a year for mid-level law enforcement officers from the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe, including the successor states of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. There are also one- and two- week specialized courses, about 15 of these every year, with topics ranging from transnational terrorism through crime scene investigation to illegal migration and trafficking in persons.

Good leadership and management

As deputy director Thomas E. Stocking points out, they teach best practices and tactical techniques that provide immediate benefit for the studying police officers in their work back home. “On longer term, we’re also looking at good leadership in management and students are encouraged to assume leadership roles,” he says.

As there is no permanent faculty residing in the Hungarian capital, ILEA Budapest utilizes a "visiting faculty" concept. Instructors come from the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Italy, as well as from Interpol and Europol. With its international student body and faculty, the International Law Enforcement Academy creates an opportunity for cross-border interaction, which facilitates close working ties and develops future international cooperation.