Future Agents in Training Gallery

The Cleveland Field Office’s FAIT course is a four-day introduction to the FBI for rising high school seniors in northern Ohio.

FBI Cleveland Special Agent in Charge Gregory Nelsen administered an oath to start the FAIT course.

Students interviewed each other during an exercise designed to help them get acquainted and comfortable asking questions, an essential skill for special agents.

Students learned about different FBI jobs from the field office staff, like the electronics technicians here.

A special agent talked to students about how the FBI interviews subjects.

Students learned to dust for fingerprints.

Students practice sketching a scene. Making accurate sketches is part of documenting a crime scene.

Students prepare for sit-ups as part of a mock fitness test that included push-ups and a sprint. All special agents must meet physical fitness requirements.

Many students said the fitness test brought them closer together as a team.

Students, motivated by their peers, had to do as many push-ups as they could in the allotted time.

Students survey potential evidence at a mock crime scene that included multiple explosions.

Inspecting potential evidence

Collected evidence was bagged and labeled for processing. Students said they were surprised at the level of detail required during evidence collection.

Labelled evidence bags

Students look for clues of an apparent bank robbery, which expanded the crime scene.

Sketching the crime scene

Searching a vehicle near the crime scenes

Students in a mock command post kept track of case updates so they could brief senior FBI leaders.

Students provided updates from their respective investigative teams on the progress of their case.

Students worked together to sort through clues to build their case with a goal toward prosecution.

A role player acting as the special agent in charge listens as a student provides updates.

A mock arrest affidavit spells out the case against their suspects. Students worked with federal prosecutors to craft the affidavit, which they sent to a federal judge before whom they would argue their case on the last day.

A student presents the facts and evidence of the case before a federal judge at the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse in Cleveland.

A student speaks before the court. The judge found in their favor and granted the class' request for an arrest warrant in the case.