Hogan's Alley is aFederal Bureau of Investigation training facility operated by theFBI Academy inMarine Corps Base Quantico nearQuantico,Prince William County,Virginia. Opened in 1987, Hogan's Alley is a full-scale replica of a nondescript town in the United States, spread over approximately 10 acres (4 ha). The facility is used to trainfederal law enforcement agents in realistic urban environments that cannot be fully emulated by, or would not be fitting in, traditional training facilities such askill houses. The "Hogan's Alley" name originated fromHogan's Alley, a popular 1890scomic strip byRichard F. Outcault that centered around the titular fictional slum alley inNew York City.[1]
Hogan's Alley is located on the grounds of the FBI Academy, roughly behind theFBI Laboratory. The facility is an open-air complex consisting of several buildings constructed to resemble establishments typically seen in an archetypical American small town, including apost office, apharmacy, amotel, a fully-operationalSubway,[2] apawn shop, apool hall, alaundromat, abarber, ajewelry store, abar, amovie theater, and a suburbancul-de-sac, among other businesses and structures, several of which are named after or resemble locations, events, and figures from the FBI's history.[3][4][5] Although it strongly resembles a town, Hogan's Alley is not actually inhabited nor incorporated, and most of the buildings are either prop-filledsets or disguised academy facilities such as classrooms and offices. Still, some genuine confusions have happened: the prop mailboxes in Hogan's Alley reportedly had real mail regularly placed in them by confused postal workers, to the point that the FBI ordered them welded shut to stop the mail deliveries; and a contracted painter working at Hogan's Alley once attempted to purchase a car from the facility's fakecar dealership, apparently unaware it was not actually for sale.[1][6]
On any given day now, you might see new agents negotiating a hostage situation at the Dogwood Inn motel—while Hostage Rescue Team operators sweep through the movie theater as role players playing potential witnesses are interviewed in the theater lobby. Meanwhile, the DEA may be training downstairs, and the FBI's Victim Services Division is two blocks away in the houses training victim specialists on how to properly conduct in-person death notifications.
Hogan's Alley is used to teach agents investigative techniques, firearms skills, and defensive tactics. Scenarios taught using Hogan's Alley are diverse and includecriminal investigations, evidence processing, conducting interviews and searches,police standoffs,crisis negotiation,raids,stakeouts, apprehension operations,close-quarters battle, and following policerules of engagement.[1] The facility is also used to trial new tactics and strategies before they are used operationally.[7] Duringtraining exercises, Hogan's Alley is "populated" by agents, professional actors, and local residents whoroleplay parts appropriate to the scenarios, such as suspects, robbers, terrorists, drug dealers, hostages, civilians, and local law enforcement.[6][8] Use of firearms is mostly simulated usingblank rounds,simunitions,paintballs, and projected targets used in tandem with recoil-simulatinglight guns, though Hogan's Alley is also used forlive fire exercises.[5][6]
Hogan's Alley is primarily used by FBI Academy classes and new recruits, though other frequent users includeFBI Special Weapons and Tactics Teams, theHostage Rescue Team, thesecurity details assigned to protect theFBI director andU.S. Attorney General, recruit classes ofDrug Enforcement Administration (whose academy is located across from the FBI Laboratory), and personnel from other law enforcement agencies.[5] The facility is also occasionally used to train lieutenants at theUnited States Marine Corps' nearbyBasic School inurban warfare.[citation needed]
The first reference to a training facility called "Hogan's Alley" was ashooting range atCamp Perry nearPort Clinton, Ohio.[9] Apparently first constructed around 1919 for a series ofshooting contests called the National Matches, Hogan's Alley was designed to resemble either a destroyed French village[9] or "a street in aslum section of a town".[10] The shooter would walk through the alley and shoot pop-up targets that would appear from behind doors, windows, walls, and chimneys.[10] Its law enforcement connection arose from its frequent use by the Special Police School, a marksmanship-centricpolice academy established at Camp Perry in 1926 by theNational Rifle Association and theU.S. Army's National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice to help train police officers (who, at the time, were reported to have lacked dedicated marksmanship programs as part of their training) and FBI agents in firearm techniques.[9][10][11] DuringWorld War II, the Special Police School was closed and Camp Perry was used as aprisoner-of-war camp; when the Special Police School was reopened in 1956, Hogan's Alley was not part of its facilities, and the School declined into the 1960s as more police forces adopted their own marksmanship training programs.[10]
When the first FBI Academy was constructed in Quantico in 1939, it did not feature simulated environments similar to Hogan's Alley, but in 1945 a "surprise target range" with similar electronically controlled pop-up targets was constructed on the academy grounds. In the early 1950s, to process an influx of new agents with the start of theCold War, Henry L. Sloan,special agent in charge of firearms training, recommended an expansion of the academy's shooting ranges to Assistant Director Hugh H. Clegg, including one called "Hogan's Alley". This range was clearly inspired by the Camp Perry rendition, and was a 120-foot façade of six house-like structures featuring similar life-size photographic pop-up targets positioned in the windows and doors; agents had to decide whether to shoot based on the circumstances. Construction of this rendition of Hogan's Alley was completed in April 1954.[9][10]
When the modern FBI Academy was constructed in 1972, it also did not originally contain facilities similar to the previous Hogan's Alley ranges. The decision to construct a modern rendition of Hogan's Alley arose in the 1980s in the aftermath of the1986 FBI Miami shootout, in which two FBI agents were killed and five others were wounded after they were outgunned in ashootout while attempting to apprehend a pair of violent bank robbers inPinecrest, Florida. The shootout indicated that FBI agents had to handle more "shoot-don't-shoot" situations than regular police officers, and that they needed more diverse and realistic training scenarios to avoid a repeat of the incident. Funding to build a new training facility for this purpose was allocated to the FBI shortly after.[6][7][8] The FBI sought the advice and assistance of Hollywoodset designers in the planning and construction of Hogan's Alley, to ensure the town looked and felt as real as possible.[1] The facility was completed and opened for use in 1987.
Since its opening, Hogan's Alley has been expanded upon with additional environments to increase the possible training scenarios and better suit the evolving nature of crime and terrorism. A cul-de-sac featuring suburban-style houses of varying designs was added to the facility in the early 2000s. In 2024, Hogan's Alley was updated to include a nightclub, a movie theater with a proper interior (the existing one was a disguised office), and adjoining rooms and corridors that could be modified to resemble different interiors such asschools andoffices, to help withactive shooter training.[5]
Colonel Critchfield on Job at 67. Veteran's Gossip of Old Days. Varied Costumes of Motley Throng. Winner of "Hogan's Alley" Battle. Turtles Assist in Alibis. Juniors Receive Their Awards. High Honors for Robert Hughes. Police Prizes Bestowed
38°31′40″N77°26′55″W / 38.527684°N 77.448620°W /38.527684; -77.448620
