Dominic Gamboa

Senior Instructor Dom Gamboa is a cop’s cop, plain and simple. From working San Francisco’s tough Tenderloin neighborhood as a foot beat officer, to his family’s long lineage of policemen, policing has been Dom’s calling.

He began his career in law enforcement in 90’s as a cop in San Francisco. Just like today, San Francisco was plagued with gangs and violence. As a foot beat officer, Dom developed a knack for identifying crooks and solving street crime cases by building relationships with shopkeepers and the old-school elder of the families who lived there. Having the “gift of gab” is one of those skills that are still crucial even for today’s cops.

Dom became a training officer at the academy and began teaching defensive tactics for in-service cops. Being a trainer ignited a passion for teaching that still burns today. He quickly became fascinated with how people learn and spent years honing the craft of teaching.

After retiring from SFPD, he became a Reserve Police Officer with the Santa Clara Police Department (CA) and later a Sergeant with Broadmoor PD (CA) where he is presently serving today.

In 2024, Dom was appointed as an Advisory Committee Member with the California Commission on POST representing private training presenters. In addition to his committee work in Sacramento, his other duties with CA POST have included designing curriculum for various Field Training Officer courses and conducting quality assessments of training programs throughout the state.

Dom was with the Savage Training Group since its early days and helped create our FTO and FTO Update courses from Day 1. Students in those classes constantly remark how Dom devoted time to them individually, helping them learn the latest evidence-based techniques for teaching and training. He is quick to give students his cell phone number and asks them to call him anytime.

Behind the scenes, Dom has been instrumental in helping each of our instructors develop their skills.

Dom brings years of experience in both teaching and course design. His command over how a learner learns, and how to inspire law enforcement learners, has earned him a reputation as an expert instructor.

Dom teaches our FTO and FTO Update courses. He also consults with agencies who are looking to turn their field training program into an effective training system. Dom has consulted with agencies just like your in projects big and small. Whether you need a quick custom training course for your FTOs to develop their teaching and remediating skills or your whole program needs and overhaul, our team has done it before and is ready to help you do the same. To learn more about our consulting services, please contact us here and let us know how we can help.

To see Dom Gamboa in action, get registered for any of the following courses: