ARTESIA — The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Artesia is growing, along with its staff.

Carolyn P. Wiley is one of the newest additions to the FLETC and Artesia. She is the branch chief of general training and is excited about the new mixed training programs being developed.

Wiley explained that it takes support for the FLETC to expand and that is what she sees happening. She said, "You have to have contractors to support this, and that is what we have here."

According to Wiley, this is exciting for Artesians as well. She said, "If half the students go downtown to buy a cup of coffee, we have benefited the community. In addition, we have people that are putting their kids in the schools and have spouses that go shopping at the local stores."

Wiley credits Office Director Woody Wright for all his efforts. She said, "He is to be commended because he is a local individual that has invested into the community."

Along the wall in one of the offices at the FLETC is a schedule of classes. As the year expands, it is easy to see the expansion of the campus and classroom instruction.

Wiley was quick to give others the credit for the organization on the scheduling. However, she admitted, "When I look at this wall, I don’t see just a progress of classes, I see all the way to March 10 when we are bringing all these resources into the community."

Born and raised in Cosby, Tenn., it is clear that Wiley is a motivated individual. When the opportunity came, she quit her job of 24 years and went to work as a marine law enforcement instructor at the FLETC in Glynco, Ga.

Wiley soon started writing programs for different agencies and discovered that program development was something she enjoyed.

When asked what a program specialist does, Wiley explained that first she must meet the agencies and determine how many people they wanted trained. What the agency wanted them trained to do and how much it was going to cost them.

Wiley said she then needs to determine if the FLETC has the facilities for the training and how many instructors it would take for an effective program to exist.

The final phase of development is to work with the divisions at Glynco and make appropriate scheduling arrangements.

Since becoming a program specialist, she worked with more than 60 federal agencies in many different parts of the world.

Wiley’s father was the Deputy Sheriff in Cosby and she developed a love of law enforcement early in life. In 1972 she began working for the National Park Service. By 1980, she was working on the water as a Marine officer and received the Medal of Valor by the Secretary of the Interior for bravery.

Eventually, she met Buff Wiley who was the superintendent of the Fort Zachary Taylor State Historic Site. Within a short time, they were married.

When asked how she and her husband felt about moving to the southwest, She admitted, "We wanted to come to Artesia. It is a small town, like Key West, Fl. and I’m from a small community. However, this campus gives me the same opportunities and challenges as any other campus."

About her husband, Wiley admitted, "My husband arrived wearing his cowboy hat, boots, and Levi’s jeans." She then added with a playful smile, "But, in my opinion, a real cowboy wears tight wrangler jeans."

Even though the world is a large place, Wiley has discovered it is not so big. She recently went to the rodeo at the Eastern New Mexico State Fair and saw a former student from Budapest, Hungry.

She said, "He was one of my favorite people and he was the only person selected to attend the international academy in Roswell. That was like grabbing the golden ring for any of them to come to the United States."

Sitting in her office amid scenes of different places she has lived, Wiley said of Artesia, "I love the clock downtown. I have enjoyed it so much and would love to meet the person who made it."