In the United States, the accreditation of state and local law enforcement agencies is a well-established process that enhances the professionalism of public safety services. The benefits of accreditation are many, including providing the public a measure of assurance that an institution has voluntarily engaged in an evaluation process that ensures it has met peer-established standards for quality, efficiency, integrity, and effectiveness.

Until recently, federal law enforcement agencies did not have a similar process to earn accreditation. However, since 2005, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (FLETA) Board has accredited nine federal law enforcement training academies. Among the first to earn accreditation was the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) National Criminal Investigation Training Academy (NCITA). The FLETA Board has also accredited two NCITA training programs.

The NCITA, located in Glynco, Georgia, at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), is the training academy for the IRS Criminal Investigation Division (CI). CI special agents are duly sworn law enforcement officers who investigate complex financial crimes associated with tax evasion, money laundering, illegal narcotics, organized crime, public corruption, terrorism, violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, and much more. Special agents’ accounting and law enforcement skills are essential qualities in conducting investigations that lead to the conviction of criminals who are committing increasingly sophisticated financial crimes. Whenever money leads to crime, CI is usually involved.