Instructors

Scott Savage

Scott Savage

Scott is the founder and CEO of Savage Training Group. In 2023 he retired with 24 years of experience as an officer and sergeant in Northern California. His previous assignments include SWAT, Team Leader on a Crisis Negotiation Team, and full-time assignment to a terrorism/intelligence task force.

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Dominic Gamboa

Dominic Gamboa

Senior Instructor Dominic Gamboa is a 28-year law enforcement veteran. He was an officer with the San Francisco Police Department for many years and is now a Sergeant with the Broadmoor Police Department (CA). Sure, he has the street experience to tell you what works and what doesn’t, but he’s also an expert-level instructor. Instead of “Death by Power Point”, Dom is known for captivating students and keeping them engaged.

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Dan Flippo

Dan Flippo

Senior Instructor Dan Flippo is a recently retired Deputy Chief from the Santa Cruz (CA) Police Department. He has decades of experience in SWAT and Patrol and is also an instructor with the National Tactical Officers Association.

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Eddie Chan

Eddie Chan

Senior Instructor Eddie Chan is a current Sergeant with the San Jose Police Department in California. Having over 12 years of experience supervising the FTO Program, Eddie has participated in the training of hundreds of trainees, both entry-level and lateral officers.

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Donnie Anderson

Donald Anderson

Senior Instructor Donald Anderson is a current Lieutenant in the busy city of San Francisco. He has years of experience supervising a 40-officer crisis negotiation team and training officers. He is a passionate and engaging instructor who is committed to sharing real-world experience with our students.

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James Tacchini

James Tacchini

Senior Instructor James Tacchini is a Sergeant with the San Francisco Police Department. He is a Team Leader on the department’s 40-member Crisis/Hostage Negotiation Team. He previously served as a full-time Officer Involved Shooting investigator and is presently a Patrol Sergeant.

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Jason Louis

Jason Louis

Senior Instructor Jason Louis has been with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office for over 20 years and is currently assigned as a sergeant in Patrol Services. As a sitting member of his agency’s use of force review board and a 15 year use of force and defensive tactics instructors, he’s developed unique and entertaining methods for teaching one of the most complex topics in law enforcement, use of force. In addition, Jason is the creator and CEO of the online learning platform The Briefing Room.

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Marlon Marrache

Marlon Marrache

Senior Instructor Marlon Marrache is a 24-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department who recently retired at the rank of Sergeant. He is also the host of the Internal Affairs podcast.

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Paul Grattan, Jr.

Paul Grattan, Jr.

Paul recently retired from the New York City Police Department where he served for 21 years. Paul spent years as a Digital Communication Officer where he crafted messages for command staff members and the department’s social media accounts. That experience gave him the expertise to now help students build their own public messaging, use social media in a strategic way, and learn how to proactively communicate during a crisis.

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Max Garces

Max Garces

Proactivity and solving complex cases – those two factors have remained constant no matter what assignment Instructor Max Garces has held over the last 30 years. As a lead instructor for our Science-Based Interviewing course, now Max helps our students develop their own skills.

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Kristy Dorton

Kristy Dorton

Kristy Dorton is a Public Safety Dispatcher II and Communications Training Officer (CTO) for the Sacramento Police Department in California where she has served since 2005.

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Joe Preciado

Joe Preciado

Joe Preciado is a Sergeant with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and graduate of basic and advanced Science-Based Interviewing training courses. Joe’s detective experience includes General Felony investigator, Major Crimes Investigator working Sexual Assault and Child Crimes, and assignment to LAPD’S Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

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Steve Valentine

Steve Valentine

Instructor Steve Valentine is a current Field Training Officer with the San Jose Police Department in California (the birthplace of the FTO program). He has years of experience as an FTO and has trained dozens of recruits.

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Kyle Cardin

Kyle Cardin

Instructor Kyle Cardin is the Training Sergeant with Santa Clara Police Department (CA). He previously served with the San Jose Police Department (CA) where his assignments included being a member of the full time SWAT Team (known as M.E.R.G.E.), Field Training Officer, and Academy Instructor.

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David Bautista

David Bautista

Instructor David Bautista is a Lieutenant with the San Diego Police Department in California. He has over 29 years of experience including working in the Patrol and the Department Training Division and over 13 years of SWAT experience as an operator, sniper, and team leader.

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Kyle Shoberg

Kyle Shoberg

Kyle Shoberg is a Police Sergeant and K9 Team Supervisor in Citrus Heights, California. Kyle was directly involved in four officer-involved shootings, and over 500 K9 deployments, with 60 K9 apprehensions. Kyle is the co-host of the Shots Fired Podcast.

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Mark Redlich

Mark Redlich

Officer Mark Redlich recently retired from the Sacramento Police Department in California after 13 years of service. His assignments included full-time SWAT, Crime Suppression Unit, and Gang Enforcement Team. He is the co-host of the Shots Fired Podcast.

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Erick Maldonado

Erick Maldonado

In 2023, Instructor Erick Maldonado retired as a Sergeant from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in Arizona. 24 of his 29-year career was spent serving in special operations units such as SWAT and K9 as both a deputy and sergeant.

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John Morris

John Morris

Instructor John Morris recently retired as a Lieutenant from the Winston-Salem Police Department, an agency of 500 officers located in North Carolina. His 27 years of service, include over 20 years in SWAT, as well as years in Patrol and Special Operations.

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