Hogan's Alley

New facilities at Hogan's Alley, the FBI's mock city at the Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia, give new agents and others more opportunities and venues to train for real-life experiences.

A new nightclub space includes a dance floor, bar, offices, and a restroom.

The new theater space is fully functional with walls and upholstery designed to withstand repeated assaults and live-fire exercises.

Hogan’s Alley dates to 1987 when the crime town was officially established after several years of construction. New buildings included a bank, a motel, a jewelry shop, and a luncheonette.

“The more realistic and lifelike we can make these training venues, the better prepared our students are when they encounter the real world,” said Special Agent Zack Fisher, who works in the Tactical Training Unit, which runs most of the scenario-based training at Hogan’s Alley.

A lobby area is adjacent to both the theater and the night club spaces, creating opportunities for more varied and elaborate tactical scenarios.

A small billiard hall is one of the original Hogan’s Alley spaces.

Impressions from simulated rounds and live-fire exercises appear on many of the walls inside Hogan’s Alley spaces.

The term Hogan’s Alley dates back to a 19th century comic strip set in a crime-ridden New York tenement called by the same name.

A new agent class participates in an exercise in the movie theater lobby.

New agent candidates conduct an exercise amid houses in a Hogan’s Alley cul-de-sac that includes different styles of single-family homes designed specifically for training.

Training with role players at Hogan’s Alley

A role-player answers questions through a window during an exercise at one of the houses in Hogan’s Alley.

Tactical training is conducted with simulated weapons in a new corridor. “We have to introduce information-rich, lifelike environments very early. Everything builds on everything else,” said Supervisory Special Agent Zack Fisher.

While new agent classes may be the most frequent inhabitants of Hogan’s Alley, users also include FBI SWAT and Hostage Rescue Team personnel, as well as the special agents who protect the FBI Director and the U.S. attorney general. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Office of Training is also based at Quantico and trains its new agents at Hogan’s Alley.

On any given day now, you might see new agents negotiating a hostage situation at the Dogwood Inn motel—while Hostage Rescue Team operators sweep through the movie theater as role players playing potential witnesses are interviewed in the theater lobby.

Clipboards holding applications for the Bank of Hogan are among the props that make Hogan’s Alley as realistic as possible for tactical exercise scenarios.

“We do as much as we can here to replicate the real world,” said Jacqueline Maguire, assistant director of the FBI’s Training Division. “We have a lot of on-the-job training when new agents get out to their field offices. But we need to set them up for success. And we do that by making our training realistic.”

Boxes in the post office at Hogan’s Alley

A view of the neighborhood from the hardware store shows the motel and, at right, a building that houses the new theater and nightclub spaces.

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