Jun.05, 2010

Michael Perkins, a former West Monroe police officer and Ouachita Parish deputy, has accepted an appointment to head the International Law Enforcement Academy in San Salvador, El Salvador.

Perkins, a special agent with the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service, will begin his assignment as director of the ILEA in San Salvador in September and will be the first DSS agent to do so. The selection process is highly competitive among federal law-enforcement agencies.

Perkins, 53, a career law-enforcement agent, joined DSS in 1991 and was soon protecting Secretaries of State Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright. Perkins has been stationed at U.S. embassies in Guatemala, Zambia and Peru. Most recently, Perkins managed a multi-national law-enforcement and security staff of 160 in Sri Lanka.

Perkins is the son of Cherry Deats Whipple of West Monroe and Von Perkins Jr. of Monroe. He graduated from West Monroe High School and earned a bachelor's degree in law enforcement and a master's in criminal justice from Northeast Louisiana University (now the University of Louisiana at Monroe).

West Monroe Chief Christopher Elg said he thought the promotion was a tremendous opportunity for Perkins.

"He was an officer here before I was chief," Elg said. "But I've met him. He's kept in touch with other officers here. It's very prestigious."

Perkins said he credited his achievement to his education. He also said his parents were happy about the appointment.

"They said they wanted me to take a job back home," Perkins said. "But they were still proud of me."

Perkins said his law enforcement training in Ouachita Parish has served him well since he joined DSS nearly 20 years ago.

"I've learned how to deal with people," Perkins said. "That's been one of the best benefits to my job. A police officer is a police officer. Cultures and languages may be different, but the concept of police is universal."

In 1995, then-President Bill Clinton called for a network of International Law Enforcement Academies to address transnational crime and terrorism through enhanced international cooperation against crime. Subsequently, the first regional International Law Enforcement Academy opened in Budapest, Hungary, that same year as a partnership between U.S. law enforcement agencies and Western European governments.

Similar academies tailored to regional needs were established in Thailand in 1996, Botswana in 2000 and El Salvador in 2005. The academies are funded by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement of the Department of State, which administers the ILEA programs worldwide. The objective of the ILEA in El Salvador is to help the region's law enforcement community build and strengthen tactics to fight human trafficking, drug trafficking, gangs, terrorism, money laundering and other financial crimes.

"More and more, crime knows no borders. Collaboration between law enforcement agencies around the world is crucial to protecting U.S. interests," Perkins said. "I'm honored to represent the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service and continue the success of the ILEA in San Salvador. I will work with my international law-enforcement colleagues in Central and South America to combat international drug trafficking, criminality and terrorism."