Welcome to the International Law Enforcement Academy, Gaborone

An International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) is a cooperative effort between a host-country government and the Government of the United States of America to deliver regional training that serves a broad range of criminal justice objectives for the United States and for the world. ILEA training in various areas ranging from border security to policing gender based violence to wildlife trafficking investigations aims to protect communities from organized crime through capacity building and strengthened international cooperation. An ILEA also serves to buttress democratic governance through promoting citizen security and the rule of law; to enhance economic development through improved legislation and law enforcement; and to increase social, political, and economic stability through crime prevention.

The first ILEA was established in Budapest, Hungary in 1995, with funding from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. The second ILEA opened in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1998. There is also an ILEA in Roswell, New Mexico that hosts senior level policy discussions. ILEA Gaborone was the third ILEA opened outside the United States.

On July 24, 2000, in view of their long standing and close cooperation in law enforcement and their mutual interest in combating transnational crime, the governments of the United States and Botswana entered into an agreement to establish an International Law Enforcement Academy that would provide training for middle managers from eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The ILEA Gaborone’s objectives are:

1. To provide quality training that supports criminal justice institution-building in Africa, with an emphasis on the rule of law, democratic governance and building law enforcement capacity.
2. To strengthen law enforcement cooperation among countries in Africa, and between those countries and the United States, to facilitate cross-border collaboration in addressing transnational organized crime.

ILEA Gaborone is headed by a Program Director and Deputy Program Director, named and funded by the United States, and by a Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director that are named and funded by the Government of Botswana.

The training faculty for ILEA is drawn from a cross-section of U.S. Federal law enforcement agencies, U.S. state and local law enforcement agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the international law enforcement community. ILEA training programs include a six-week core curriculum on Law Enforcement Leadership Development (LELD) that is offered approximately four times per year; specialized courses, which are approximately one to two weeks in length; and senior management conferences designed to disseminate vital crime control information to participants who are at the policy-making levels of government.  Since its inception, the ILEA Gaborone has trained over 8,000 law enforcement officials from 34 different African countries, incrementally expanding participation beyond the Southern Africa region to include countries from east, west and central Africa.

The curriculum of ILEA Gaborone provides courses on a wide range of law enforcement skills: forensics, basic case management, investigating and prosecuting organized crime, supervisory police training, police strategy, narcotics identification and evidence handling, wildlife investigations, customs interdiction, border security, and public corruption, among others.