CALEE Returns to El Salvador

FBI Section Chief Jayne Challman giving training

Making its fifth trip to the country since 2009, U.S. and Central American law enforcement officials visited El Salvador from May 7-11 as part of the Central American Law Enforcement Exchange, or CALEE.

The four-week CALEE program, which is coordinated by the FBI’s National Gang Task Force (NGTF) and funded by the Department of State, is designed to share best practices regarding investigation and enforcement of MS-13 and 18th Street gangs among members of the international law enforcement community.

This year’s group included 39 law enforcement professionals from Miami, Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, and representatives from every Central American country.

Participants began this year’s exchange at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, where they began an aggressive classroom, hands-on, and field training curriculum. This was followed by a week each in Boston, Los Angeles and San Salvador, where the group met with local officials and visited gang neighborhoods and police facilities in each city. In El Salvador, the group met with police officials at the PNC headquarters, visited with prosecutors at the Salvadoran Attorney General’s Office (FGR in Spanish), and toured Apanteos Prison and known gang neighborhoods in Santa Ana.

Over 200 law enforcement officials have participated in the CALEE program since 2009, and remain in close contact regarding developments in gang activity and emerging practices in the field of anti-gang enforcement.