Southern Border Training and Technical Assistance Project

The Southern Border Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance Project has been focused on the overall goal of providing Southwest border state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to protect themselves and to safely and effectively control, reduce, and/or prevent drug related crime and violence stemming from narcotics activity along the southern border of the United States.

The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT) will continue to train tribal, state, and local law enforcement personnel to counter criminal enterprises linked to Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (MDTO). NMT will deliver "Surviving the Mexican Drug Cartels" training courses; "Countering Mexican Cartel Violence in the Southwest" training courses; and "Kidnap Incident Management Seminar" for communities at risk for kidnapping by those associated with MDTOs. The continuation funding will add to the training needs assessment, research, development, and international liaison conducted as part of the initial project. NCA/NCF

The FY 2012 funding will continue to support the Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) Southern Border Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance Program. Since the first award in FY 2009, the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT) has focused on threat to public law enforcement from Mexico Transnational Criminal Organizations (MTCOs) using the southern border as the primary gateway for entry of illegal drugs into the United States. Hundreds of officers have received 1-day classroom training about the organizational characteristics of MTCOs; officer safety; indicators of drug, weapon, and currency runs; and, other topics relevant to policing in the southwest border states. NMT will use the funds to: increase the delivery of the "Surviving the Mexican Drug Cartels" courses and hands-on, mobile courses addressing officer safety, dynamic entries, high-risk person and vehicle stops and interdiction techniques; develop, modify, and update course curriculum and training materials; reproduce and distribute "Surviving the Mexican Cartels" DVD for roll call trainings; and, provide ad hoc training and technical assistance requests. NCA/NCF