Instructors

John Kempf is currently a Captain and District Commander of The Idaho State Police District One office located in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. John began his career as a Trooper with the Idaho State Police in 1997 and was promoted to Detective in 2000 where his primary focus was narcotics investigations. As a Detective John lead and participated in hundreds of narcotic cases ranging from street level investigations to complex conspiracy and federal wire tape cases. In 2008 John was promoted to Sergeant and supervised a narcotics unit whose primary focus is mid to upper-level drug traffickers. In 2014 John was promoted to Detective Lieutenant where he managed a unit whose caseloads included major narcotics cases, Officer-Involved Shootings /Critical Incidents, Homicides and Professional Standards Investigations.

John is a member of the National Alliance of State Drug Enforcement Agencies and the coordinator for Idaho of the Domestic Highway Enforcement program. John has been called to testify in Federal Court as an expert witness on drug investigations and is one of the lead instructors and organizers of the Idaho Basic Narcotics Officers Course. John has received numerous accolades for his law enforcement efforts including a U.S. Department of Justice Award for Public Service, Certificate of Merit from the Governor of Idaho, and Outstanding Supervisor award from the Idaho State Police. John has also been awarded the Idaho State Police Silver Star and the Idaho Medal of Honor for Bravery. 

John holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Delaware Valley University in Criminal Justice Administration and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy.  

Joseph Willis (retired) is a 25 year veteran of the Keene (NH) Police Department. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree magna cum laude from Franklin Pierce University. He is both a national instructor and an auditor in the property and evidence management field. He is a certified instructor through NHPS&T. While assigned as the department property and evidence officer, he was an integral member of the team to achieve CALEA recognition and certification for accreditation. Until his retirement he was the team leader for both the Collision Analysis and Hostage Negotiation units. Among many of his assignments, he served as a Juvenile Detective/Prosecutor, Major Crimes Detective, Platoon Case Manager, Undercover Narcotics Detective for the NH Attorney Generals Drug Task Force and finally as the Property and Evidence Manager. He is a member of the International Association for Property and Evidence, New England Association for Crisis Negotiators and President of NH Property and Evidence Room Management Professionals.

Kevan Dugan retired in 2011 after more than 28 years with the Pennsylvania State Police, retiring as Division Director of the Bureau of Emergency and Special Operations. His varied assignments included patrol, criminal investigations, undercover narcotics and SWAT. He served six years as a board member for the National Tactical Officers Association and is a graduate of the FBINAA, Session 213. After retirement he worked as the Director of Sales in Mexico for Point Blank Body Armor. He was a Spanish instructor for his department and acted as interpreter on homicide, aggravated assault, theft, drug and internal investigations, as well as translating department documents into Spanish. For the NTOA, he taught SWAT Command Courses in Spanish in South America.

Certified with PITC as a Spanish Instructor in 2001, he has taught in Pennsylvania, New York, North Dakota, South Carolina, Missouri, Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, Wyoming, Nevada, Idaho, Indiana and U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Kevin holds a B.A. in Criminal Justice from Western New England College and a M.S. in Forensic Science from The University of New Haven. He has been employed as a latent print examiner since 1995, working with The New Hampshire State Police Forensic Laboratory, The New York City Police Department Forensic Laboratory and currently with The Connecticut DESPP Forensic Laboratory. He has extensive experience concerning Latent Print subject matter and has testified over 80 times as an expert in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut. His instructing experience includes teaching for 16 years within The University of New Haven Forensic Graduate Program as an adjunct professor, guest lecturing at numerous State and Private Colleges and Universities in Connecticut and Massachusetts, including UCONN Law School, providing training to State and Local law enforcement personnel and lectured at Forensic/ Law Enforcement Conferences. Further, Kevin has authored two articles, which have been published in scientific peer journals and is a member of the CT IAI and The Chesapeake Bay Division of the IAI. 

Kimberlee Thetford is a peace officer with the Lubbock Police Department in Lubbock Texas. Kimberlee is currently assigned to the Crisis Intervention Team as a mental health officer, where she responds to emergency calls involving citizens in mental and behavioral health crisis.  Kimberlee also assists providing mental health training for Lubbock and surrounding county police departments. She is also a Crisis Intervention Team coordinator for Lubbock County.

Kimberlee has a B.A. in Sociology with an emphasis in Criminology and a minor in Psychology from Texas Tech University.

Kimberlee has been employed with the City of Lubbock since April 2012. Since becoming a police officer with the Lubbock Police Department, she served as an officer on patrol for approximately four years, training officer at the police training academy for two years, and an officer on the Crisis Intervention Team for two and a half years.

Kimberlee has been a member of the Lubbock Police Department’s Hostage Negotiation Team since 2014. She has been involved in multiple crisis negotiations, in various roles, throughout Lubbock and is currently assigned as one the four Team Leaders for the department’s negotiation team.

Kimberlee has obtained her advanced peace officer’s license, both basic and advanced TCOLE instructor certifications, Mental Health Peace Officer Certification, Defense Tactic Instructor Certification, and Critical Incident Stress Management Certification.

Kimberlee has coordinated and taught multiple 40-hour Crisis Intervention Trainings per year for the last several years within her department as well as for surrounding agencies. Kimberlee has also assisted in developing smaller 8 hour trainings for the negotiator team throughout the years.

Lisa E. Grossman, Ph.D., ATC, BCB Lisa Grossman is an expert in peak performance training and mental skills development with extensive experience working with military and law enforcement agencies, healthcare providers, combat/wounded veterans, corporate executives, and professional athletes.

In addition to providing training and consulting services through private practice in Jacksonville FL, Dr. Grossman serves as an adjunct faculty member at St. Johns River State College’s Criminal Justice Academy. As an instructor, she teaches FDLE advanced courses in Stress Management and Responding to Veterans to law enforcement officers from around the state as well as oversees the health and wellness curriculum development and instructor certification.

She has served as the Peak Performance Center Director at Wounded Warrior Project’s TRACK Program where she provided mental skills training to wounded veterans transitioning into civilian life while combatting PTSD, TBI, and other injuries sustained. Over the years, she has offered her knowledge and expertise in biofeedback training to develop educational and training protocols for the US Army’s Center for Enhanced Performance as well as for a biofeedback company where she is currently serving as the Clinical Program Director. Lisa Grossman was awarded a Doctoral Degree in Educational Psychology from Florida State University where she specialized in Performance Psychology, is a Board Certified Athletic Trainer with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, and is Board Certified in Biofeedback by the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance.

Dr. Grossman’s work targets the core of self-awareness and self-regulation, helping each client develop and enhance themselves in order to perform optimally in any environment, despite any challenges they may face.

Luis was born in Colombia South America, and at the age of 13 immigrated to the U.S. Luis and his family settled in Lancaster Pennsylvania where he graduated from High School. After graduation Luis joined the U.S. Air Force where he completed a 4 year tour of duty.

In 1987, Luis joined the Pennsylvania State Police where he worked as a Patrol Officer, Drug Interdiction Officer, Undercover Officer, and intelligence Officer. In 2006 Luis became a Spanish for Law Enforcement Instructor after completing the Instructor training provided by "Partners In Training Consultants" under the direction of Jose Alentado. Luis taught Spanish for Law enforcement classes at the Pennsylvania State Police Academy, and the Pennsylvania South East Training Center.

Luis retired from the Pennsylvania State Police in 2008 after 21 years of service and in 2009 Joined P.I.T where he begun teaching Spanish for Law Enforcement classes throughout the U.S. At present Luis is still teaching for "Alentado Training Consultants" formerly P.I.T.C, and also works for the Yuba City School District in Yuba City, California as an interpreter. 

Mark Kollar currently serves as the special agent-in-charge for a state criminal investigative agency. In this capacity, he oversees the use-of-force investigations conducted by bureau investigators statewide, in addition to all of the units within the Technical Investigations Division. Kollar previously led the Major Crimes Division, Special Investigations Unit, for one-quarter of the state. The special agents he supervised conduct high-profile criminal investigations, including those centered on officer-involved shootings, homicides, serial crimes, public official corruption, sexual assaults and large-scale financial crimes.

During a law enforcement career that has spanned nearly three decades, Kollar has

served in multiple capacities, including stints in patrol, narcotics, crime scene and the

detective bureau as well as various supervisory roles. Kollar also formed his agency’s Major Case Response Team. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy’s 285^th session in Quantico, Virginia.

Kollar has an associate degree from Hocking College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Ohio University. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree from the University of Virginia. Additionally, he is an author who has written several books and is a regular contributor to Police1 and other law enforcement publications. Most recently, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office published his textbook, Best Practices for Investigating an Officer-Involved Critical Incident. He also serves as a national instructor for the Public Agency Training Council, primarily focusing on officer-involved shooting and use-of-force investigative courses.

The Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission has awarded Mark the designations of “Master Criminal Investigator” and “Master Evidence Technician” based upon the successful completion of specialized courses of study in those areas. Additionally, he received multiple commendations and honors for the cases he has been involved with, including the Ohio Attorney General’s Distinguished Law Enforcement Group Achievement Award on multiple occasions. He has lectured extensively to audiences from eight countries in the areas of officer-involved shooting and homicide investigation and public corruption. To-date, Kollar has instructed more than 1000 law enforcement investigators on the methodology for investigating police use-of-force incidents.

Mark is married with two adult daughters. He is a licensed private airplane pilot and enjoys alpine mountaineering, running, skiing, and woodworking (primarily making fountain pens).

The Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission has awarded Mark the designations of “Master Criminal Investigator” and “Master Evidence Technician” based upon the successful completion of specialized courses of study in those areas. He has additionally received multiple commendations and honors for the cases he has been involved with, including the Ohio Attorney General’s Distinguished Law Enforcement Group Achievement Award on multiple occasions. He has lectured extensively to audiences from 8 countries in the areas of officer-involved shooting and homicide investigation, public corruption, and other topics such as “Management of Multi-Fatality Crimes Scenes” during a FBI National Academy Associates retrainer.  

Mark is married with two daughters, both currently in college. He is a licensed private airplane pilot and enjoys alpine mountaineering, running, skiing, and woodworking (primarily making fountain pens). In addition to his primary career, he also owns two small businesses and is in the process of completing his third book.

Dr. Matt Tomlin holds a Ph.D. in Forensic Psychology. His dissertation explored the experiences of police crisis negotiators working with high-acuity suicidal individuals. He also earned master’s degrees in Criminal Justice and Forensic Psychology. His research focuses on the intersection of psychology and the criminal justice system, with a particular emphasis on strategies for engaging individuals in suicidal crises. Matt has authored articles on police crisis response and has trained law enforcement, mental health professionals, and academics in this field. 

 Matt’s policing career spanned over two decades, during which he coordinated the mobile co-responder crisis team and crisis negotiation programs. Upon retiring, he was key in implementing and overseeing a regional 9-8-8 suicide crisis helpline program. In addition to STAIR, he has facilitated training in ASIST, CIT, and Nonviolent Crisis Intervention. Matt is a college faculty member who has developed and teaches forensic psychology, mental health, criminal justice, and criminology courses.

Lieutenant Matthew Garcia (Ret.) brings 26 years of law enforcement experience to his instructional work, having served as both a State Trooper and Local Police Officer before retiring from the Connecticut State Police in 2022. A nine-year Hostage and Crisis Negotiator and Team Leader, he managed high-risk incidents while training and certifying new negotiators in collaboration with regional partners such as the FBI–CT Office and the New England State Police Administrators Conference (NESPAC). His leadership roles included serving as Commanding Officer of the Statewide Narcotics Unit within the Bureau of Special Investigations and overseeing Connecticut’s Sex Offender Registration Unit for eight years. Lieutenant Garcia’s twelve years in the State Police Peer Support Program—most notably his CSIM work following the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy—demonstrated his unwavering commitment to officer wellness and critical-incident support.

Since retiring, Lieutenant Garcia has continued to advance officer safety, wellness, and professional development on a national scale. As the Deputy Director for Officer Safety and Wellness Programs at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, he leads national outreach and education through the Ambassador Program and supports the Destination Zero Program’s mission to identify and promote proven officer safety and wellness initiatives across the country. His extensive peer support experience also informs his role as an instructor with SAFLEO, the Suicide Awareness for Law Enforcement Officers Program, a national initiative developed in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Institute for the Institute of Intergovernmental Research.