ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – An elite training facility for federal agents has opened in northeast Florida.
Earlier this month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened the National Marine Training Center off Riberia Street in St. Augustine.
Agents say it will bring advanced marine law enforcement training to the hundreds of marine and border patrol agents through 30 unique courses.
The high-intensity training happens fast because instructors say they want to make sure the agents are ready for whatever may come their way.
In one special training scenario, agents approach a boat suspected of being a threat to the country. When the boat doesn't stop, the agents fire warning shots. Then the boat stops dead in its tracks. The agents propel their 44-foot interdiction boat, at times, within inches of the other vessel, and they carefully use a shotgun to shoot and shut down the engines.
"There's times where they're bad people bringing in bad things, and they're not going stop," interdiction instructor Tony Arevalo said. "So that's when we have to engage them with disabling fire."
The boats agents trained on in the previous scenario have four engines pushing 900 horsepower, so they can catch up with just about any boat out there.
This is just one of the tactics taught to federal Customs and Border Protection agents from all across the country at the new National Marine Training Center.
Instructors train elite law enforcement on the best ways to patrol and protect the U.S.'s coasts and waterways, like the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Rio Grande river and the Great Lakes. Homeland Security officials say the agents will do more at the training center than learn the best ways to protect the country from terrorism and other illegal activities. They'll also provide an economic boost to the region.
"We push through about 600 agents here and bring in close to $900,000 in revenue into the city," Arevalo said. "They're in hotels, they frequent the restaurants and sites here in St. Augustine."
The center's first class of agents is set to graduate in late February.
