LEDETs are part of their larger organizational parent, called TACLETs.

“Tactical law enforcement teams [TACLETs] have evolved from smaller law enforcement detachments, assigned to several locations, to the current model of two centrally located and supported tactical law enforcement teams; one located in South Florida and the other located in Southern California,” Ward said. From these locations, teams of 10 or more highly trained individuals deploy to wherever they’re needed, armed with the ability to perform close-quarters combat, vertical insertion techniques, and container climbing – skills they need to maneuver and react quickly in a variety of high-pressure, fast-paced law enforcement scenarios.

Some team members get even more specialized training as precision marksmen, emergency medical technicians, and linguists. Others qualify through difficult aerial gunnery training to fly aboard U.S. Navy and Coast Guard helicopters during counterdrug operations to use airborne force to halt drug-smuggling boats by shooting out engines – not at people – and allowing for the capture of the vessels, their operators, and illicit cargo.

 

LEDET Training Begins

While members of the Coast Guard may be “born ready,” they’re not born trained. Strong roots are planted in the boot camp and officer accession training, and continue on as they reach operating units and boarding teams.

First stop for every LEDET team member is the Coast Guard Maritime Law Enforcement Academy in Charleston, S.C. Established in 2004 at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Ga., this command prepares Coast Guard members to become maritime law enforcement officers. The school also trains federal, state, and local, as well as international law enforcement personnel, in maritime law enforcement.

With a focused skill set, LEDET members typically come from the maritime enforcement specialists: boatswain’s mates, machinery technicians, and damage controlmen rates.

“This rating diversity greatly enhances mission success in the units,” Ward said. “Enlisted personnel assigned to duty at tactical law enforcement teams typically cycle back to other Coast Guard units such as Coast Guard cutters and smallboat stations, where their specialized law enforcement skills can be leveraged in support of a number of other Coast Guard missions.”

The five-week course prepares students to lead boarding teams, qualifying them to be boarding officers.

The training is challenging both academically and physically.

Academically, they learn the specifics of legality and theory of law enforcement authority, criminal and constitutional law, the use of force, and enforcing laws and treaties at sea. They learn how to spot fraudulent documents and are schooled in commercial boating safety and fishing industry regulations.

On the physical side is hands-on experience with boating and boarding safety and tactical techniques. Students learn defensive tactics, arrest procedures, and how to operate in confined spaces as well as navigate hostage situations.

Then it’s off to the Special Missions Training Center at Camp Lejeune, N.C., for eight weeks of even tougher training during the Basic Tactical Operations Course.

Even though everyone in the course is required to already be Coast Guard qualified with pistol, automatic rifle, and shotgun within 90 days of reporting to the school, everyone still goes through an additional level of basic marksmanship instruction and techniques before moving on to combat marksmanship and then to close-quarters combat skills – essential tools every LEDET member learns and a hefty portion of the course.

Close-quarters combat skills teach them to move with purpose and use their weapons as they navigate barriers, move while shooting, and travel up and down ladders while remaining defensive and alert.

The second phase consists of four weeks building on the basics as students learn advanced team-related skills – how to communicate through nonverbal signals, breach doors, and move through rooms as a tactical team – all while making tactical decisions as they try to determine potential threats along the way.

Each day of training ends with after-action discussions in a classroom environment, where students and instructors evaluate the day’s activities with lessons learned.

Postgraduation, personnel report to their commands and begin another layer of training as they qualify as a deploying detachment team member, and with that team, they begin the training and deployment cycle.

When there is a moment to reflect, LEDET personnel use the time to continually sharpen their skills.

“Coast Guard tactical law enforcement personnel undergo specific and intensive sustainment training in the execution of U.S. laws, firearms marksmanship, and the use of force in support of domestic and overseas operational situations,” Ward said.

It’s a tough job with heavy requirements on the individuals and the teams. To recognize this, LEDET members, both officer and enlisted, are eligible to receive the Tactical Law Enforcement Badge after 18 months of duty with a unit.

The Coast Guard has a long and proud history of tactical operations defending the United States and enforcing the laws of the nation both in war and peacetime.

No one knows what the next threat is and when other missions, based on new threats, will be handed to the Coast Guard as part of its law enforcement missions. But in keeping with the service’s motto of semper paratus – “always ready” – it’s sure that LEDETs will be on the cutting edge in making those new missions a success.

This article first appeared in the Coast Guard Outlook 2013 Edition.