Instructors

Miriam Dickler is the former Director of Communications for the City of Charlottesville, Virginia.

In her six years with Charlottesville, she served as primary city spokesperson, led a staff of four and an office responsible for media relations, public relations, community engagement, web and social media content and the City’s three PEG television stations. The Charlottesville Director of Communications is also the Lead Public Information Officer (PIO) for Emergency Management, the City's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer and a senior advisor to the City Manager.

Prior to working for Charlottesville, Ms. Dickler served in a similar role as the first full-time Public Information Officer for the City of Harrisonburg, Virginia, building that city’s communications operation from the ground up.

Over the course of her career in local government, she was the primary communications official for multiple events that attracted widespread national attention and responsible for directing teams of local and regional communications professionals through those events and their aftermaths. In early 2018, Ms. Dickler stepped away from local government communications to explore new opportunities. She is currently working with James Madison University in Harrisonburg to design a local and state government continuing education curriculum. She also consults independently for individuals and organizations.

Ms. Dickler is proud to have been called “one of the best PR professionals” and “a dedicated communications miracle worker” by her colleagues. She lives in Charlottesville with her husband.

Dr. Spencer is currently the President and CEO of Academic Solutions Initiative. Dr. Spencer attended Texas State University for his Bachelors, Our Lady of the Lake University for his Masters, and Oakland City University for his Doctorate. He graduated with top honors in both graduate programs. Dr. Spencer has served as an Adjunct Professor and as an executive consultant to private colleges and universities across the country. He has built training and academic curriculums for more than 5 years. Dr. Spencer has created over 25 training programs for law enforcement and is known for specifically tailored training to an agency’s needs. Dr. Spencer also spent several years in fugitive recovery and has practiced Martial Arts for more than 20 years. Dr. Spencer has been a trainer to law enforcement for more than 10 years. He is the author of two publications, one of which earned the status of “Dissertation of the year 2016.” The title of the Dissertations was “Classifying Gang Membership, and Gang Activity as Domestic Terrorism.” 

Sergeant Paul A. Villaverde is a law enforcement supervisor within a law enforcement agency in Miami-Dade County. He has served its citizens for over 29 years.  Sergeant Villaverde has a vast amount of work experience, knowledge and training derived from his work and supervisory assignments, which include: the, Homicide Bureau, Executive Officer to the Head of Agency (oversaw Governmental Affairs), Media Relations Section, Sergeant At Arm’s Unit, Robbery Bureau, Narcotics Bureau, Warrants Bureau, Professional Compliance Bureau, General Investigations Unit, Crime Suppression Team and previously detached as a Task Force officer for the US Marshal’s Service, and to Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF). Sergeant Villaverde currently supervises the Homicide Bureau Cold Case Unit and is an active member for over 20 years of the Special Response Team’s Hostage Negotiator Unit.

Sergeant Villaverde possesses a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Management and has a professional and practical background in law enforcement supervision and investigations.  His practical knowledge and experience is rooted in him from the positions and assignments he has held.

Sergeant Villaverde has served as an instructor concerning several investigative levels subjects and has been teaching for over 20 years.  He is sought out to instruct, Homicide School, New Detective and Criminal Investigator Class, Internal Affairs School, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Officer Discipline School, Miami-Dade County Medicolegal Death Investigations School, Public Information Officer Course and has previously instructed Robbery Bureau Investigations Classes and General Investigations Schools. He utilizes a dynamic approach to instruction that includes student participation and thought provoking problem solving methods relative to today’s law enforcement professional.  Sergeant Villaverde proudly served as an elected Board of Director for the Dade County Police Benevolent Association, (PBA) for over ten years, and currently remains a proud member of the PBA.

Peter Collins has been the forensic psychiatrist with the Criminal Behavior Analysis Unit of the Ontario Provincial Police, since 1995. From 1990 to 1995 he was a member of the first profiling unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Violent Crime Analysis Section) and was involved in the development of the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS). Since 1992 he has been a member of the crisis/hostage negotiation team of the Toronto Police Service Emergency Task Force.  In addition, Peter consults to the Behavioral Sciences Section of the Calgary Police Service. 

Peter obtained his master’s in applied criminology from the University of Ottawa, his Medical Degree from McMaster University and completed his postgraduate medical training in psychiatry and forensic psychiatry at the University of Toronto. His clinical appointment is with the Complex Illness and Recovery Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and he is an Associate Professor, in the Division of Forensic Psychiatry, at the University of Toronto.

He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Threat Assessment and Management, published by the American Psychological Association, and a columnist with Blue Line Magazine.

Peter retired from the Canadian Armed Forces (Reserves), at the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, and served on 2 deployments in Southern Afghanistan. In 2012 he was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his contribution to the Canadian Forces. He was awarded the Canadian Forces Decoration (CD) in 2013. 

In 1997 Peter was elected a member of the International Criminal Investigative Analysis Fellowship. In 2017 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Canadian Critical Incident Association.

Peter is an authority on violent crime and has worked with, and instructed, numerous criminal justice agencies in North America, and internationally, including the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Interpol, and Europol.

James (Randy) Merriman is a career Law Enforcement officer with a background as a Special Agent with an elite Texas Governors narcotic enforcement unit. Randy is a certified as a Texas Law Enforcement Instructor and holds certifications ranging from Basic to Master level. He is recognized by the US DOD as an Awareness, Human Behavior Analysis (HBA) and Tracking Subject Matter Expert and has an outstanding reputation for the delivery of high quality training to various U.S. Department of Defense organizations and US Allies. RANDY has also developed awareness courses and delivered training to multiple federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

Randy has provided awareness courses in support of all branches of the US military and Special Forces communities. He has provided Counter Improvised Explosive Devices (C-IED) awareness programs to the US Navy EOD Training and Evaluation Units and has provided services as the course developer and instructor for the Advanced Situational Awareness (ASA) program at the US Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE) at Ft Benning Georgia. He has delivered awareness and tracking programs to the USMC Snipers and was program developer and subject matter expert for the USMC “Combat Hunter” program. He has taught these programs to elite Military Units such as the British SAS, 3 Para, Royal Marines, Royal Tank Regiment, and has served as an instructor for the elite British Jungle Warfare Training facility in Brunei. He has trained Canadian Special Forces, Danish Frogmen Corp, Danish Jaegers, Danish EOD Engineers and the Dutch Royal Marines in their respected countries and around the globe in Awareness, HBA, C-IED and Tracking skill sets.

Richard Arrington is a retired police lieutenant from a mid-sized city, crime prevention expert, published author, and retired Virginia prevention subject matter expert and program manager. He has more than 40 year experience in law enforcement, crime prevention, community policing and as an instructor. He is the owner, lead instructor and risk consultant of the Crime Prevention Center for Training and Services, LLC, which focuses on proactive policing solutions. He serves on several national advisory boards regarding crime prevention.

Rick began his career in public service in 1989 as a Corrections Deputy for Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.  In 1994, he served as a Law Enforcement Officer for Kenneth City Police Department in Florida.  Rick continued his career in Law Enforcement and joined the Roanoke Police Department in 1996.  During his 22-year tenure at the Roanoke Police Department, Rick assumed many roles and responsibilities to include becoming a General Instructor for the Department of Criminal Justice Services in 1999, providing professional instruction to police departments, and community groups throughout the country. During his career in law enforcement, Rick also served as a Police Training Academy Director. As the Director, Rick supervised the department’s accreditation process and became one of the first independent police academies in the country to become nationally accredited.

Since his retirement at the rank of Captain, Rick started Inspired Policing Solutions LLC, which is a consulting and training company geared toward impacting organizational transformation and community culture change. Aside from his law enforcement experience, Rick has utilized his skill set in the food bank industry where he served as the Chief Impact Officer for Feeding Southwest Virginia.

Rick continues to teach and consult many police agencies across the country. His area of expertise is in; Leadership growth, Organizational Change, Mentoring the Underachieving Employee, Community Policing and Effective Problem Solving, Crime Mapping and Hot Spot Policing, Domestic Terrorism, Managing the Police Training Unit, and advises organizations on employee/volunteer personal safety considerations and conducts security site risk assessments.

Although Rick is retired from law enforcement, he continues to work closely with community leaders, police organizations, private sector, and non-profit organizations across the country to impact meaningful change. Rick has written several books on leadership and work culture change and continues to seek new opportunities to develop leaders, refine organizations and engage communities to promote positive change.

Roger Davis currently serves as the Special Agent In Charge for a state level criminal investigative agency. In that capacity, he commands the statewide investigations for all cases involving Major Crimes (Homicide and Officer Involved Critical Incidents), Special Investigations (Sexual Assaults and Crimes Against Children), Narcotics Investigations, and is the statewide coordinator for a multidisciplinary Cold Case unit that focuses on a team approach involving personnel from  investigations, the laboratory, and criminal intelligence units.

Roger’s responsibilities include the supervision of high -profile criminal investigations involving officer involved shootings and critical incidents, homicides, serial offenders and crimes, public corruption, sexual and physical assault cases involving children, and cyber based investigations regarding online child predators. In his 28 years of law enforcement, he has served in a multitude of capacities on both a state and local level. This includes patrol, assistant field commander of a narcotics task force, criminal investigator, special agent, and various assignments within supervision.

Roger has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati and a master's degree in criminal justice from the University of Massachusetts -Lowell . Roger has obtained his “Master Criminal Investigator” certification and is a graduate from the FBI National Leadership Academy. Roger is a featured national presenter and collaborator on death investigations and cold case methodology and continues to present to ongoing FBI NA classes on these topics. Roger has been nominated for and awarded numerous awards including the Ohio Attorney General ’s Distinguished Law Enforcement Group Achievement Award, Ohio Attorney General All Staff Teamwork Award, Fraternal Order of Police Ohio's Finest Finalist, Emil Otting Award, and patrol officer of the year. Roger is married with three children and is an avid woodworker and home remodeler when he is not coaching sports or responding to a callout.

Chief Samuel A. Farina, Jr. (ret.) earned his bachelor’s degree in criminology from Niagara University in 1988 and went on to earn a master’s degree at Niagara University in Criminal Justice Administration in 2004.  In addition, Chief Farina received an additional master’s degree in forensic psychology from Walden University in 2016. 

Farina began his law enforcement career in 1988 with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy sheriff in Rochester, New York.  He rose through the ranks to achieve Police Commander with oversight of all administrative functions for the 1200-member full-service Sheriff’s Office.  In 2008, Chief Farina transferred to the Rochester Police Department as a Police Commander and was charged with oversight of the 781-member department’s special operations section.  In 2009, Chief Farina was promoted to the position of Deputy Chief of Operations for the RPD until retiring in 2011.  After living in North Carolina upon retirement and working as an administrative assistant to the police chiefs at the Durham Police Department and the Southern Pines Police Department, Farina returned to NY to take a position as the Police Chief with the Fairport Police Department.  After 7 years of service as the police chief, Farina took on his current position as the Director of School Security at the Fairport School District. 

In addition, to the above police administrative experience, Farina has been a certified police hostage negotiator since 2001.  Currently the founder and president of the New York Association of Hostage Negotiators, Chief Farina has been involved with the training of over 10,000 negotiators nationwide.  Farina is also a certified negotiator training with the Department of State’s Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program.  Farina has been a negotiation team commander, an incident commander and special teams’ commander with an experience of over 100 crisis events. 

Samuel Allen has over twenty-three years in the field of investigations for both public and private sectors. Sam has obtained several certifications in forensic and fire investigations. Formed partnerships with both Federal and State Law Enforcement Agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Louisiana State Police and State Fire Marshal’s Office to maximize the resources available for fire investigations. Sam has been involved in over 700 fire and explosion scene examinations.