History
The Federal Reserve System derives the authority to authorize "personnel as Federal Law Enforcement Officers to protect and safeguard the premises, grounds, property, personnel, including members of the Board, or any Federal Reserve Bank, and operations conducted by or on behalf of the Board or a reserve bank" from Section 11(q) of the Federal Reserve Act, codified at 12 U.S.C. § 248(q). Federal Reserve officers have the same authority as any other Federal Law Enforcement Officer while on duty and acting on official business, regardless of their geographic location.
Prior to designation as Federal Law Enforcement Officers, system protection personnel operated as protection or special police officers in their respective states and were almost exclusively regulated to exercising authority on Federal Reserve Property. Following the passage of updated legislation by Congress after the events of September 11, 2001 that designated Federal Law Enforcement Authority to system officers, authority now extends to wherever a Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Officer is performing official duties, whether in uniform or on a plain clothes assignment.
To be a Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Officer one must attend a Federal Reserve Police Academy and be sworn in as a Federal Law Enforcement Officer. Federal Reserve Police Training Centers are nationally accredited by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (FLETA) program. Additionally, all Federal Reserve Police Instructors are FLETC or state POST certified. The Federal Reserve System runs four system-level FLETC-accredited training academies. The locations are San Francisco, CA, New York, NY, Atlanta, GA and Richmond, VA. In some districts, where officers are cross-designated as local–state law enforcement officers, additional training is provided to comply with the governing POST where the district or office is located. Some (but not all) districts offer a lateral entry program,which allows for certification with minimal training for those with prior police training and experience.
Each Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Office in the 12 regional districts are independent law enforcement units though governed loosely out of Washington. Many of the law enforcement units have dual City or State Police authority, in addition to their Federal authority. This separate authority allows for the enforcement of state and/or city laws on or off property.
Each district has a dignitary protection team, which provide armed plain clothes protection to the 12 Federal Reserve Presidents. There are five Special Response Teams (SRT) are based in San Francisco, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Richmond, and New York City and are designed to respond nationwide. Explosive Detector Dog Teams, Active Shooter/Patrol Rapid Response and Hazmat teams are assigned to several Federal Reserve facilities throughout the nation; and often travel to other locations on temporary assignments.
The primary duty of the uniformed Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Officer is to provide force protection to Federal Reserve facilities. Plain clothes or secondary responsibilities, depending on the particular location, may include liaison work with other law enforcement agencies, intelligence gathering, training instruction, and/or investigative work related to administrative matters. Federal Reserve officers serve in a support role to local, state and federal agencies when criminal investigations affect the interest of a Federal Reserve district. Uniformed Officers also respond to police, fire and medical incidents in and near facilities. Each Federal Reserve office operates a dispatch/emergency operations center.
Each district is left to choose the make, model and style of police vehicles, which often varies based on geographic location and yearly weather patterns. There are both marked and unmarked police cars in the Federal Reserve fleet.
Officers are certified to carry semi-automatic pistols, assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, less-lethal weapons, pepper spray, batons and other standard police equipment, including bullet resistant vests/body armor. Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Officers have the same police authority as other Federal Law Enforcement Officers.
Because the Federal Reserve System is independent of the Federal Government, system Law Enforcement officers have a pension, thrift savings plan, and benefit system separate from, but similar to federal employees. Each of the 12 districts has different pay scales based on the local cost of living index. System officers also benefit from a matching Thrift Savings Plan as well as paying into Social Security, just as their counterparts in other Federal agencies.
On October 12, 2010 President Barack Obama signed into law S.B. 1132 the "Law Enforcement Officers' Safety Act Improvements Act", which states that law enforcement officers of the Federal Reserve are "qualified law enforcement officers" and thus are authorized to carry a firearm off-duty. This update to the Law Enforcement Safety Act, among other aspects, clarified that Federal Law Enforcement Officers working for Amtrak and the Federal Reserve (not funded by Congress) are specifically granted the same rights as publicly funded law enforcement officers as it relates to off duty concealed carry.
Read more about this topic: Federal Reserve Police
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