PRESS RELEASE
TAMPA, Fla. — Vector Solutions, in partnership with Bull Bear Defense Solutions, LLC, is honored to welcome the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS) U.S. Indian Police Academy to the team of public safety professionals using Acadis to improve first responder training and readiness. Vector Solutions is proud to help support the U.S. Indian Police Academy mission in leveraging technology to improve training academy efficiencies, accountability, and Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (FLETA) compliance. The Academy plans to launch the Acadis Readiness Suite in 2024.
The U.S. Indian Police Basic Academy is co-located at the FLETA site in Artesia, New Mexico. Beginning operations in December of 1968, the Academy provides basic law enforcement training and bridge training for police officers, corrections officers, criminal investigators, dispatchers, and command staff. The Academy also provides in-service training for the 574 Federally recognized tribes that the BIA supports, helping officers stay up to date on the latest information, including de-escalation techniques, anti-bias training, Fentanyl response, and policy changes. In 2020, the BIA-OJS opened a second academy called the Advanced Training Center at Devil’s Lake, North Dakota to deliver specialized advanced training in criminal investigation, drug enforcement, and command school programs.
In fiscal year 2023, more than 1,300 students were trained between the two academies and all of the administrative logistics—such as managing class rosters, course information, student information, housing details—was tracked on spreadsheets and with manual processes. Catherine E. Abeita, Program Specialist for the academies, said it takes “so much time” to track all of the information manually, as well as compiling it for the authorities they report to.
Ms. Abeita said they are excited to implement Acadis to help automate and digitize many of their manual processes. Acadis will make it much easier for the Training Specialists to track all the student data, maintain class files, coordinate graduation information, and provide much easier access to the data needed for reporting. There are nine districts throughout Indian Country and each district will have Acadis administrative access to input their respective information, which will drastically reduce data entry time for the Academy Program Specialists.
Acting Deputy Chief of Training, Lane Adams, will be able to leverage the Acadis Housing module to simplify the facility logistics, returning time to focus more on programming. Adams said Acadis will also help them improve accountability for officer in-service training and compliance with FLETA. Training Supervisors will have better real-time insight into their officers’ in-service training status and receive automated alerts at various intervals to help ensure officers meet their 40 hours of annual in-service training.
Vector Solutions commends the BIA-OJS U.S. Indian Police Academy for leveraging technology to save administrative time, improve real-time insight, and invest in officer, dispatcher, and command staff training that will help ensure public safety, protect property, and administer justice within Indian County communities and reservations.