Future Agents in Training
Program gives students hands-on perspective
The multiple crime scenes near downtown Cleveland would test even the best investigators: debris fields from two apparent bombs, a bank robbery, a stolen vehicle, and dozens of potential witnesses.
In this case, however, FBI special agents and Evidence Response Team members served only as observers and facilitators as 40 high school students collected evidence, interviewed subjects, and built a solid criminal case that could hold up in court.
The mock crime scene comprised day three of the Cleveland Field Office’s Future Agents in Training (FAIT) course, a four-day introduction to the FBI for rising high school seniors in northern Ohio. The course, now in its ninth year, draws applicants from 40 counties covered by the FBI’s Cleveland Division and its satellite offices. More than 200 kids applied this year, and 40 were selected to spend the second week of June in Cleveland learning all about FBI jobs and how investigations really work.
"You’re going to know more about the FBI than all of your friends, family members, and neighbors," said Gregory Nelsen, special agent in charge of FBI Cleveland, in his welcoming remarks. "So, you’ll be able to tell those stories, and you can talk about what you did here. You can be an advocate for the FBI."
The course is a lively mix of presentations and practical exercises. FBI personnel—including linguists, technical experts, forensic accountants, intelligence analysts, special agents, and bomb technicians—answered questions about their jobs and how they arrived at the FBI.
In a mock scenario on the first day, a special agent explained how investigators assemble the building blocks of a case by looking at the available facts and evidence and then asking the right questions. Then students separated into "squads" and practiced.
On day two, students learned best practices for dusting for fingerprints, sketching crime scenes, and interviewing subjects—all while dutifully documenting everything. For many, the rigors of tracking every photo, statement, and piece of evidence was illuminating.
"It was really eye-opening," said Ryan, an FAIT participant. "It’s been very jarring to see, like, just how methodical that process is for any kind of crime scene like this."
"There’s a lot more that goes into examining a crime scene than people realize," added Hannah, another FAIT participant. "There were multiple different things we needed to include, like the case number, the item number, description, location, time."
The Cleveland Division borrowed the idea for Future Agents in Training from the FBI’s Washington Field Office in 2015, seeing it as a way to connect with students in the communities it serves. FBI field offices rely on outreach efforts like FAIT, Citizens Academies, Junior Special Agents, college Honors Internships, and Teen and Youth Academies to help strengthen relationships with communities.
"You’re going to know more about the FBI than all of your friends, family members, and neighbors."
Gregory Nelsen, special agent in charge, FBI Cleveland
The Future Agents in Training course is a lively mix of presentations and practical exercises. The highlight for many was investigating a crime scene using the evidence collection techniques they learned from agents.
Students in FBI Cleveland's Future Agents in Training program learn how to dust for fingerprints. Transcript / Visit Video Source
"The ultimate goal of the Future Agents in Training program is to highlight the work of the FBI and kind of demystify some of the things that are out there, especially among teenagers," said Sarah Cahill, a community outreach specialist in the Cleveland Division who established the local FAIT. "And to ultimately have 40 new advocates for the Bureau and to have them go out into their respective high schools and to share what they learned with their families and friends."
The first two days of the course prepare students for the ensuing days when they will lean on their new insights to investigate a complex crime scene, develop their case, brief FBI leaders on their progress, and then present the facts to federal prosecutors and a sitting federal judge.
During the recent FAIT, FBI personnel designed a mock crime scene at Cleveland Browns Stadium. As an agent provided a verbal briefing to the group, students took notes and then peeled off into squads to divvy up roles like evidence collection, photographer, interviewer, command post, and sketch artist. Some students donned gloves and protective gear while others fanned out to interview witnesses—role-players who provided good answers only if students asked the right questions. Students in a mock command post monitored radios for updates, logging everything on flip charts for periodic briefings throughout the day to FBI leaders.
"There’s a lot of young, bright minds that were part of the program today," said Special Agent Patrick Lentz, a crisis management coordinator on the Cleveland Division’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. A day earlier, he provided a tour of the field office’s actual command post and described how information ideally flows up the chain to give case agents an accurate picture. On day three, he liked what he saw.
"The flow of information is critical in a command post in a rapidly moving, ever-evolving environment," Lentz said. "The teamwork is vitally important. So, what I tried to drive home with the students is it's your job to be able to know where the individuals in your squad are on the street, so you can account for and ensure their safety."
An FAIT student inspects a phone that is potential evidence.
Bagging evidence at the mock crime scene.
On day four, two assistant U.S. attorneys helped students sort through their evidence to craft a narrative statement laying out the facts of the case. Once written, they sent it to a district court judge before whom they would argue the merits of their case that day. The class then piled into vans headed to the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse, where they filed into a courtroom and listened to their squad leaders present their case before a federal judge.
The result? The judge found in their favor and congratulated them on their work. Then he asked if anyone had anything they wanted to say. One of the students said he did.
"At first I was very skeptical of it," said Sean, standing before the court and describing his initial thoughts when a neighbor encouraged him to apply to FAIT. "I thought it was going to be like one of those camps you get forced to go to when you're a child.
"But it was really cool. I’m actually, like, really proud of me being here. And I’m actually proud of myself getting in. And I’m proud of everybody else here and what they’ve done because we all worked equally hard. I’ve really enjoyed this whole experience."
