FBI pairs with community: citizens urged to take active roles in helping vital mission of the FBI

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The FBI, with its hard-edged reputation for bringing to justice terrorists, organized criminals, and spies, can seem stern and grim. This longstanding perception has hindered the agency's ability to relate to, and communicate with, the general public. In an attempt to penetrate this false perception and simultaneously give interested citizens a chance to give back, three FBI-based programs have been introduced and developed--the Citizens' Academy, the Chaplains' Program, and InfraGard. These three selective programs aim to give interested individuals the chance to give back. All relatively new, the programs have increased communication between the FBI and citizens, and they have provided a more humanistic image of what really goes on behind the scenes of both investigations and crisis situations. Best of all, the programs promote a better understanding between FBI agents and citizens, ultimately resulting in safer, happier communities.

FBI Citizens' Academy

Closely assisting the FBI no longer requires being a special agent. In the past 15 years, opportunities have been given to everyday citizens to become involved with their own local field office. The FBI Citizens' Academy is one such opportunity. Started in Phoenix, Arizona by then Special Agent in Charge Jim Ahearn in 1993, it began as a strategy to foster better relationships between the FBI and the community (Community Outreach Program, n.d.). Ahearn based the Citizens' Academy on a similar program run by a local police agency.

Keeping those ideals in mind, the Academy was founded, and it still remains firm on that foundation. Goals of the Citizens' Academy include building trust and understanding between leaders in the community. As the Academy accomplishes this, the community becomes a better and safer place to live. Today, the Citizens' Academy aims to teach interested persons firsthand about the FBI in nearly all 56 field offices nationwide.

The Academy is available to community leaders who are at least 21 years of age and who live and work within the area covered by the field office. Additionally, an FBI agent or a former graduate of the Citizens' Academy must nominate each interested party, and the applicant must also undergo a background check in order to gain access to FBI space. The Citizens' Academy generally meets 8 to 10 times for classes lasting 3 hours each, although the total number of hours logged in the classroom varies slightly between field offices.

The curriculum covered during the classes includes practical problems involving evidence collection and preservation, FBI jurisdiction and congressional oversight, structure and observation of FBI field offices, information on fingerprint and forensic services, and many other cutting-edge topics. The special agents in charge of that field office, their senior managers, and senior agent experts instruct each session.

In terms of increased knowledge and communication between FBI field offices and the community, it is evident that the Citizens' Academies are accomplishing what they have set out to do. Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office, Danny Defenbaugh, "believes that developing partnerships with communities is an effective way to garner positive publicity, especially when the FBI cannot stand up and speak for itself" (Community Outreach Programs, n.d.). A community-based organization, it is "separate from the FBI, designed to promote a safer community through community service projects and a process of educating business, labor, media, medical, minority, religious, government, senior citizens, and other community leaders about law enforcement, with particular emphasis on the mission, resources, and limitations of the FBI" (FBI National Citizens' Academy Alumni [FBINCAA], n.d.). Once participants graduate from the Academy, they are encouraged to join the FBI National Citizens' Academy Alumni Association. The Alumni Association is open to any person who has completed a local Citizens' Academy, and it aims to keep alumni informed of current issues in the law enforcement arena. Each year, the FBINCAA holds a national meeting for members. Most recently, the meeting was held in Tampa, FL June 17-19, 2008.

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FBI Chaplains' Program

Assisting emotionally in times of hardship is a task best left to those experienced in the field of counseling, therapy, or chaplaincy. The FBI Chaplains' Program seeks to offer comfort to victims as it allows willing citizens with experience in chaplaincy to volunteer to help FBI agents in crisis situations. As part of the Employee Assistance Unit, these volunteer chaplains reach out to victims in shootings, accidents, or natural disasters. The victims range from members of the FBI force to fellow civilians. These volunteer chaplains aim to offer their skills to aid in some of the most traumatic of experiences.

Following the destruction at Ground Zero in New York City on September 11th, 2001, the FBI contacted Father Lawrence Murphy, a rector at St. James Episcopal Church in Warrenton, Virginia (Shreve, 2001, p. 1). A volunteer chaplain, Murphy was trained in assisting in crisis situations while in the U.S. Navy. Three days after the attack, he drove to New York to offer help and support to victims, who were "very receptive," Murphy said of the people he spoke to (Shreve).