Law enforcement instructors and trainers have come together to form an organization dedicated to furthering education in the criminal justice community and creating an international cooperative environment.

The International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) was started in April by a group of instructors, including Executive Director Ed Nowicki, and already has more than 200 members. The association is working to reach out to the international community and currently has members in the United States, Canada, Italy, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The association is strictly for educators, both in classroom study and on-the-job training; associate members and students are not permitted.

Headquartered in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, ILEETA’s central mission is to provide members with benefits that are not available elsewhere. These benefits include general liability insurance at low rates, an annual international training conference, and a quarterly periodical, The ILEETA Digest. “We are doing things no one else is doing,” Nowicki says. “We’re going to make the mold, not fit it.”

ILEETA is already beginning prepara-tions for its first annual International Training Conference to be held in the Rolling Meadows suburb of Chicago in spring 2004. A committee of association members will choose presenters for the conference based on the instructor’s repu-tation, choice of topic, and what he or she can offer to participants.

Innovative one-day instructor certification programs at the conference will allow participants to become certified in specific disciplines. Manufacturers will be on hand to teach classes and train members on the most effective and safe ways to use their products. “This is a fantastic opportunity for agencies to have their employees get certified in many different areas,” Nowicki says.

ILEETA stresses the importance of knowledge and education’s necessity to not just students, but teachers as well. Says Nowicki, “It’s the job of the instructor to see that learning takes place.”