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Instructors

Instructors

Our Team of Active and Retired Officers is Dedicated to Providing the Best Training and Instruction

Corporal Brad Smith (Retired)

West Covina Police Department, California
Cpl. Smith is the founder of Canine Tactical Operations & Consulting.  Cpl. Smith retired for the West Covina Police Department after 30 years of service in June 2010. Cpl. Smith was a K9 handler and trainer for the department for 25 years and a SWAT dog handler for 18 year.

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

Manning, Kass, Elrod and Ramirez
Mr. Ramirez is a founding partner of the his law firm. Mr. Ramirez specializes in defense of police misconduct and governmental tort suits in state and federal court. Mr. Ramirez has acquired significant expertise on civil liability arising out of the use of force in law enforcement, especially in the areas of tactical teams and police service dogs. Mr. Ramirez represents numerous police departments in southern California including L.A.P.D. and L.A.S.D. tactical and K-9 units. Mr. Ramirez lectures to Swat and K-9 units nationwide and is on the advisory board for N.T.O.A., C.A.T.O. and the United States Police Canine Association. Mr. Ramirez has also published several articles on police liability in numerous publications. In 1993 Mr. Ramirez was awarded Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Mr. Ramirez started his career as a police officer for Whittier Police Department and Monterey Park Police Department.

Sergeant Jay Miller

Santa Ana Police Department, California
Sgt Miller began his law enforcement career in 1980 after completing his military service with the 101st Airborne. Sergeant Miller worked for the US Border Patrol from 1980-1983. In 1983 he moved to northern Utah and worked as patrol officer as well as a concurrent assignment to a multi jurisdictional Tactical Team.

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

West Covina Police Department, California
Sgt. Gallardo began his Law Enforcement career in 1997 and transferred to the West Covina Police Department (Los Angeles County, CA) in 2000.

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)

Utah County Sheriff’s Department, Utah
Sergeant Critser retired in July 2015.  Sergeant Critser is a K9 Unit Supervisor with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office. His duties include police service dog handler, field training officer and Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team leader. Lane served for 12 years as a Utah County SWAT Team Leader, one of six team leaders managing a 46-member multi-jurisdiction SWAT team. He was responsible for developing and conducting a five-day, 80-hour, SWAT selection course that is held annually and administered by SWAT team leaders. His responsibilities included primary pistol, primary carbine, less-lethal munitions/chemical and wilderness operations instructor.

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)

Canyon County Sheriff’s Department, Idaho
Ken Pavlick has over 27 years experience with police working dogs starting in 1982 when he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. In his 4 years in the military, Ken was a patrol dog handler, explosive detector dog handler, narcotic detector dog handler, trainer and supervisor of a 27 dog detector dog section. Upon separating from the Air Force in 1986, Ken worked for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in Indio, California where he handled a patrol/narcotic detection canine, and also was a member with his canine of the department’s Emergency Services Team (SWAT). When he left the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office in 1994, Ken and his canine were responsible for the seizure of millions of dollars worth of currency and narcotics, the most notable being a 744 kilo cocaine seizure from a semi-truck.

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

Rialto Police Department, California
Officer Anderson started his law enforcement career in 1993 in Los Angeles County. In 1997 Officer Anderson lateraled to the Rialto Police Department and in 1999 became a member of the K-9 Unit and a SWAT Team member in 2000. Officer Anderson is currently assigned to Rialto’s K-9 Unit with his second cross trained K-9 partner “Gilley.” Officer Anderson is a senior SWAT Team operator and sniper for the Rialto Police Department. Officer Anderson also serves as Rialto SWAT Team’s grenadier, scout, logistics and past assistant team leader as well as trained and operated Rialto’s first SWAT K-9.

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

Lakeland Police Department, Florida
Master Officer Jeff Barrett has been a police officer in Lakeland Florida, for 22 years. For the past 20 years he’s been assigned to the K-9 Unit where he is the Senior K-9 trainer and Coordinator for his 9 dog unit. Jeff is the co-founder of the Canine Development Group and provides expert witness testimony and consulting in law enforcement K-9 related matters. Jeff is also National Director for Field Training Operations. Jeff is a certified K-9 Trainer and Evaluator with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Jeff is also a certified Level II Trainer and Judge for the United States Police Canine Association. Jeff is a current member of the NAPWDA and the USPCA where he serves as the President for Region One.

Sergeant Terry Anderson (Retired)

Pasadena Police Department, Texas
Sergeant Anderson retired in 2014. Sgt. Anderson is the supervisor for the Special Operations Division, which covers K9, SWAT and EOD. Sgt. Anderson has been on SWAT since 1994. He has been an operator on the primary assault team and a K9 SWAT handler. He was eventually promoted to SWAT tactical Supervisor.

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)

Sacramento Police Department, California
Sgt. Miller began his law enforcement career in 1986 with the Sacramento County Sheriff Department. He retired in 2010 from the Sacramento Police Department where he worked Patrol, Bicycle unit and SWAT. He was an officer in SWAT for four years and a SWAT Sgt – T/L for seven years. During his tender in SWAT he was involved in 800 + critical incidents, with 500 of those as a team leader.

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

Lakeland Police Department, Florida
Sergeant Aaron Peterman began his career at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (FL) in 1997 where he spent nearly four years primarily in the Tactical Drug and Narcotics Units. In 2000 Aaron was employed by the Lakeland Police Department where he was later assigned to SWAT while in the Street Crimes and Narcotics Units. While on SWAT Aaron was an entry team member as well as a Rappel Master, and competed at the SWAT Round-Up International Competition in Orange County, Florida numerous times.

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)

Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, New Mexico
Kevin retired in July 2013. After 30 years of service Kevin retired from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department in New Mexico where he established and implemented their Patrol K-9 Program. Kevin has trained law enforcement handlers, corrections handlers, military handlers and their service dogs from across the United States on narcotics detection, explosives, and human remains, as well as patrol, tracking and tactical operations. Kevin has also taught at numerous K9 seminars across the country, on such subjects as: K9 selection testing and electronic collar training. Kevin is also the owner and operator of “K-9 Services” in New Mexico where he has taught over 50 Basic Handler Courses.

Officer Zachary Roush

Brown County Sheriff’s Department, Wisconsin
Deputy Roush has been in law enforcement for the past 15 years. Deputy Roush is assigned to the Patrol Division as a member of the K9 unit. He has been a member of the multi-jurisdictional Emergency Response Unit (ERU) for 10 years and has been handling a patrol/narcotics detection/Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Police Service Dog (PSD) for 5. He is a SWAT operator assigned to various positions within the entry and immediate action response teams. He has obtained certifications as a firearms instructor, simunition supervisor and advanced tactical shield operator and instructor. Additionally he has obtained certifications in the area of weapons of mass destruction, tactical operations and hostage rescue operations. As a trainer and a Field Training Officer (FTO), he has presented multi-subject instruction annually to all police personnel. Deputy Roush has taught SWAT personnel and K9 Teams through Canine Tactical Operations. He conducts in house and basic training of a twenty five person SWAT team and six team police service dog unit for the Brown County Sheriff’s Department as well as miscellaneous dogs and handler from the region. Deputy Roush is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the area of K9 for the National Tactical Officer’s Association (NTOA). He is consistently involved in SWAT and K9 functions within and outside the Brown County Sheriff’s Department.

Chris Deakin (Retired)

Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department, Wisconsin
Deputy Deakin retired in 2013 after almost 27 years of service with the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department (WSD). In 1991 Deputy Deakin was selected for the Tactical Enforcement Unit (TEU-Swat). Dep. Deakin received training through the FBI, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (SEB) basic and N.T.O.A. conferences. During his 22 years on TEU, Dep. Deakin worked in various team positions. For approximately 15 years he worked as a team leader or scout. For many years he served as an instructor at the WSD Basic SWAT School teaching room clearing, warrant preparation, scouting and SWAT K-9 deployments. Dep. Deakin and the WSD TEU team were recognized as the SWAT Team of the Year for the Oswald bank robbery apprehension.

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

Boston Police Department, Massachusetts
Troy Caisey has over 28 years experience in Law Enforcement and 23 years handling and training police dogs. He has personally trained and handled 5 working dogs of his own in Patrol, Narcotics and Explosive Detection. He has certified his numerous times with his K9’s with USPCA, IPWDA and ATF. In addition to receiving trainers certifications from those various Associations and Agency

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.

Nicholas Wolfe

Kane County Sheriff’s Department, Illinois
Deputy Nicholas Wolf has been with the Kane County Sheriff’s Police since January of 2000 and assigned to the K9 Unit since 2002. During that time Deputy Wolf has worked three different patrol / narcotic detection K9’s which all have been trained for SWAT deployments as well. He is currently working a patrol / narcotics detection K9 which he trained, while an apprentice trainer, and is working the first and only Police Bloodhound in Kane County. After becoming a Police K9 Trainer Deputy Wolf has been assigned the position of Head Trainer at the Kane County Sheriff’s Office and K9 Unit Coordinator. Deputy Wolf serves as an Assistant Team Leader for Kane County Multi-jurisdictional SWAT and is the Chairman of the Illinois Tactical Officers Association K9 Committee. Deputy Wolf has trained and instructed classes across the Country in the field of Police K9 and SWAT and has assisted in training numerous detection K9 Teams.

K9 Officer Sean Malia

Las Vegas Metro PD, NV
K9 Officer Sean Malia is a 10 year veteran of the LVMPD K9 Unit and serves as a dedicated SWAT dog operator, informal leader, explosives detection dog handler, and K9 trainer. Malia is a 21 year veteran of LVMPD with experience working undercover in Narcotics and as a Field Training Officer.

Trooper Kevin Holohan (Retired)

New York State Police
Kevin began his career with the North Greenbush Police Department in 1989. In 1992, he became a New York State Trooper serving as an Academy instructor and .308 rifleman (sniper). Kevin became a K9 handler for the State Police in 1997. Over the following 20 years he handled 3 explosive detection/patrol dogs. He was assigned as a handler to the New York State Police Special Operations Team (SWAT). He served as an instructor at the State Police canine school in Cooperstown, New York. He responded to New York City on September 11, 2001 assisting with the response to the terror attack and subsequent explosive detection searches.

Over his 20-year career as a handler, he performed explosives detection searches for several U.S. Presidents, United States Supreme Court Justices. He assisted the US Marshall’s Violent Fugitive Task force with fugitive searches and deployed with local police agencies SWAT teams. Kevin currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the State University of New York at Cobleskill in the Canine Training and Management Bachelor of Technology degree program. He is certified Canine Behaviorist through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers.

Sgt. Mancuso

Henderson Police Department, Nevada
Sgt. Mancuso served in the U.S Marine Corps from 1996-2000. In 2002 he moved from New York to Nevada and began his law enforcement career with the Henderson Police Department. Sgt Mancuso was a Canine handler from 2007-2017. He voluntarily completed SWAT School in 2007 because he firmly believes that K9 Handlers should be able to operate seamlessly at the same skill level of the tactical teams that they deploy with. His K9 teams were highly successful on the street and in tactical environments. Sgt Mancuso’s K9 teams were also top performers in many national canine competitions earning multiple “Top Dog” awards. Sgt Mancuso is a Certified K9 Instructor, Judge and Adjunct Instructor with Utah and Nevada POST and a Certifying Official for California Narcotic Canine Association. He was the Unit Trainer for his department’s 10 dog unit during his 10 years in the program.

Sgt Ted Barnard

Kane County Sheriff’s Office, Utah
Sgt Ted Barnard is a 19-year law enforcement veteran from the Kane County Sheriffs Office, in Southern Utah.  Sgt. Barnard has a vast background in law enforcement, with the majority of his time spent as a SWAT Operator, Team Leader and K9 Handler. Sgt. Barnard started in SWAT in 2002 and was promoted to Team Leader in 204.  Sgt. Barnard started the department’s K9 program in 2004 and immediately began implementing the dog into the team.  In 2006 Sgt. Barnard was named Utah Handler of the Year. Sgt. Barnard was one of the original instructors/creators of the Kane County Sheriff’s Office Tactical Tracking School which is a week-long intensive school teaching SWAT operators how to track armed felony suspects.  Sgt Barnard has trained over 1,000 SWAT operators from across the United States and is a certified Utah K9 Judge and Instructor.

Sgt Ryan Sumner

Lenexa PD, Kansas
Sgt Ryan Sumner began his law enforcement career at the Lenexa Police Department (KS) in 2004. Sgt Sumner was a K9 handler for 13 years and has worked three dual purpose dogs all attached to SWAT. Sgt Sumner is currently a handler and K9 Sgt over the Lenexa K9 Unit. Sgt Sumner is a nationally certified instructor, trainer, and certifying official as well as the North Central Regional Director for National Police Canine Association. Sgt Sumner is the K9 section chair for the Kansas City Metro Tactical Officers Association. Sgt Sumner is the K9 trainer for multiple departments.

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For more information about Canine Tactical Operation & Consulting, S.K.I.D.D.S. or CATS please contact us.

Call Us: 626-523-4028