Instructors

Corporal Brad Smith (Retired)
Cpl. Smith is a graduate of California POST’s Master Instructor Development Program (Class #5) where he designed and implemented the first and only California POST approved K9 SWAT School in California. These classes are called S.K.I.D.D.S. (SWAT & K9 Interaction During Deployment School) and CATS (CAnine Tactical Schools).
Since 1999 Cpl. Smith has been N.T.O.A.’s (National Tactical Officer Association) National Canine Chairman and Subject Matter Expert for C.A.T.O.’s (California Association of Tactical Officers) on K9 SWAT Deployment. Cpl. Smith has taught thousands of officers throughout the United States, Brazil, Australia, Costa Rica and Canada.
Cpl. Smith provides Expert Witness Testimony and consulting to attorneys in civil cases regarding K9 Patrol and K9 SWAT deployments in Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and New Mexico.
Cpl. Smith provides consulting services to law enforcement on K9 related issues such as: deployment tactics for K9 patrol deployments and K9 SWAT operations, dog and handler selection, oral boards, training, report writing, policy, case law, use of force.
Cpl. Smith has published over 100 articles in numerous publications on Canine SWAT Deployment and training. Some of these publications include: Tactical Edge, Tactical Response, Police K9 Magazine, Law & Order, Illinois Tactical Officer Association, Law Officer Magazine, Wisconsin Law Officer Canine Handler Association, Dog Sport, C.A.T.O. and Police Magazine.
Cpl Smith has also published two books titled: “K9 Tactical Operations for Patrol and SWAT” and co-authored “K9’s in the Courtroom.”
Cpl. Smith has competed internationally as well as regionally in numerous police canine competitions. He has won over 60 awards including 6 Grand Championships, 4 Reserve Grand Championships and 4 Top Agencies. Cpl. Smith has also traveled to Europe and selected K9’s for his department and other departments.

Attorney Gene Ramirez

Sergeant Jay Miller
In 1985 Sergeant Miller began his career with the Santa Ana Police Department located in Orange County, California. During his 23 years with Santa Ana he has had various assignments to include Patrol, Helicopter observer, Major Narcotics Investigator, FTO, FTO Coordinator, SWAT and he spent 9 years as a Patrol/Narcotics Canine Handler. During that time he also served as an entry canine team for the department’s SWAT Team. He currently has over 20 years assigned to the Tactical Team and serves as the CNT/Tactical Medic Team Leader.
Sgt. Miller is a POST instructor and judge for the Utah State SWAT-Dog program. Additionally, he was a member of the California POST Commission on SWAT, sitting on the Canine and Crisis Negotiations sub committees which developed the current POST recommendations for all California Tactical Teams. He is also a current California POST instructor having provided instruction in Narcotics, Criminal Law, Drug & Alcohol Recognition, Patrol Procedures, Low light tactics, Canine and the FTO program having trained officers from throughout California as well as the National Park Service. Jay has trained police canine teams from all over the United States and is working to obtain his certification as a USPCA Judge. He has been an instructor for SKIDDS/CATS since Class #1. Additionally, he has authored articles on Canine and tactics related issues for the NTOA’s Tactical Edge, SWAT magazine and Guns & Weapons for LE.
Sgt. Miller continues to remain active in obtaining training having attended courses provided by the FBI, NTOA, DHS, DOJ, CATO and DEA and has attended multiple courses at Gunsite.

Sergeant Pete Gallardo
During his time with WCPD, Sgt. Gallardo has worked various assignments in both the Patrol and Investigative Divisions. Sgt. Gallardo has also held positions on the department’s Special Problems Detail (SWAT) to include Entry Team, K9 Handler and Assistant Team Leader.
Sergeant Gallardo is a POST/NRA certified Firearms Instructor and a Low-Light Tactics Instructor. In addition, Sergeant Gallardo is an Instructor for the Los Angeles County Police Canine Association (LACPCA). Sergeant Gallardo has competed in K9 trials in the Western United States and held a National Police Canine Association (NPCA) SRT certification.
Sergeant Gallardo stays current with the most effective shooting principles by attending training courses offered by Blackwater USA, Costa Ludus, Falcon Operations Group, International Tactical Training Seminars, Magpul Dynamics and The Practical Shooting Academy.

Sergeant Lane Critser (Retired)
Lane developed the SWAT team policy and procedure for the multi-jurisdictional team and is responsible for managing and implementing training guidelines, training records and equipment purchases for the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
He is a Patrol/Narcotic and SWAT Dog Instructor/Judge for Utah POST. His experience as a Dog Handler has been from 1988-2008 where he worked avalanche, search/rescue, patrol, narcotics and SWAT dogs. His duties also include in-house and basic training of a seven-member police service dog unit for the Utah County Sheriff Office and miscellaneous dogs and handlers from the region.
Lane was a WPO Judge at the Internationale Polizei Meisterschaft in Hannover, Germany in 2000. Lane has trained local, state, federal and military agencies and handlers from North America, South America and Western Europe. Lane is an Adjunct Instructor for Utah POST, K9TacOps and International Police K9. Lane recently accepted a transfer to a Major Crimes Unit as a supervisor.

Ken Pavlick (Retired)
After leaving the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Ken went to work for the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office in Caldwell Idaho in 1994. When he started working there, the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office had no K9 program. Under Ken’s guidance and direction, in 7 years the program had grown to 15 K9 teams. Ken was instrumental in writing the Idaho POST standards for Police canines. During this time, Ken also selected and trained over 20 detection dogs for other law enforcement agencies in the state of Idaho. Ken was also a member of the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, where he held positions as an entry team member, K9 handler, and later as a sniper/observer. Ken’s primary assignment was in the training division where he was a certified instructor in Weapon Retention, Chemical Agents, Patrol Tactics, Swat Tactics, Active Shooter, Patrol K9, Detection K9, and Swat K9.
In 2003, Ken left full time law enforcement and moved to Custer, Washington where he opened Pacific Coast K9, a Police K9 kennel and training facility, where he specializes in sporting dog breeds for detection work. Ken is still a sworn reserve police officer in the state of Washington, as well as an Idaho POST, Utah POST and Washington state CJTC instructor.

Officer Glen Anderson
Officer Anderson is a member of the National Tactical Officer’s Association (N.T.O.A.), the California Association of Tactical Officer’s (C.A.T.O.) and the California Narcotic Canine Association (C.N.C.A.). Officer Anderson has written numerous articles for C.A.T.O. and the N.T.O.A. and is a California POST certified evaluator for patrol and detection K-9’s. Officer Anderson is an N.T.O.A. instructor on active shooters, has served on the governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission for SWAT K-9’s and trained a K-9 with the FBI’s Scent Evidence Team. Officer Anderson is a graduate of the Gunsite Academy and
Officer Anderson is the current President of the Inland Empire Police K-9 Association (I.E.P.C.A.) He has also served as vice president and training coordinator for the I.E.P.C.A.

Master Police Officer Jeff Barrett

Sergeant Terry Anderson (Retired)
Sgt. Anderson has been a canine handler/trainer since 1991. He worked a dual-purpose patrol and detection dog for 15 years and spent 5 years in narcotics working a dual-purpose canine. Since 1994 Sgt. Anderson has been President of National Police Canine Association. He is also an Executive board member for SWGDOG and NEDCAB.

Sergeant Al Miller (Retired)
Sgt. Miller is POST certified instructor in both handgun and rifle. He was the lead instructor for the rifle team and ranger master at Sacto PD. He has over 6000 hours of SWAT training including training by Navy Seals, FBI, LASO, H/K and Sig Arms. He is currently working in the field of Dignitary Protection and as an instructor in several related courses.

Sergeant Aaron Peterman
In 2006 Aaron was assigned to the K-9 Unit where he handled three dual certified patrol/narcotics K-9’s until being promoted out in 2014 and reassigned to SWAT as an entry team member. Aaron is still one of the K-9 Unit’s trainers and a Florida Department of Law Enforcement certified K-9, General, Driving, and Firearms Trainer/Instructor. Aaron has instructed for HITS Training and Consulting and the Florida SWAT Association (FSA) as well being an Adjunct Instructor for Polk State College and IPTM at the University of North Florida. Aaron is the current United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) Region 1 President.

Kevin Sheldahl (Retired)

Officer Zachary Roush

Chris Deakin (Retired)
In 1993 Dep. Deakin was selected to be a K-9 handler for the department. He was a handler for 20 years handling 3 different patrol/narcotic dogs until his retirement in 2013. For 20 years Dep. Deakin was been a member of the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Canine Handler Association (WLECHA-Wisconsin’s state K-9 association) where he has been a member of the board and Vice President. Dep. Deakin and his K-9 partners have won several WLECHA awards over the years, one of which was the 2006 WLECHA K-9 Handler of the Year award. He has also won numerous medals competing in the early years of the Wisconsin Police & Fire Games K-9 competitions with his K-9 partners. Dep. Deakin remains active teaching SWAT and K-9 tactics through his affiliations with WLECHA and Canine Tactical Operations.

Troy Caisey
He is currently the Head trainer for the Boston Regional K9 Academy and is the trainer of 88 regional K9 teams in addition to his own agency. His methods of training work dogs are very progressive. His openness to new concepts has made his K9 program advance and is one of the lead K9 Training programs in Ma. His methods of training K9 Teams for tactical deployments have instrumental in the increase usage of K9 Teams with local and Regional SWAT Teams.
