Erick Maldonado
In 2023, 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, K9, and Search and Rescue both as a deputy and sergeant. With over 2500 high-risk deployments and missions, Erick now uses those experiences to offer our students practical solutions to the complex tactical problems they face.
When he is teaching our Critical Incident Response course, Erick emphasizes the importance of understanding the “why” of decision-making. He helps students understand how to make effective decisions and then how to communicate those decisions to their subordinates and superiors. He trains officers in the mission-critical skills they need to lead through a crisis. But Erick also doesn’t shy away from sharing the very real emotional impact that critical incidents can have on officers. Candidly he shares what it is like to be in an officer-involved shooting and what it’s like to lose colleagues.
Erick has received dozens of awards and accolades for his service in law enforcement, including the Medal of Valor. Erick holds various AZ POST certifications, including being a certified Firearms and Defensive Tactics instructor, as well as dozens of certifications related to his specialty assignments. But winning awards and having a great resume isn’t why you should listen to Erick. The reason we know you’ll want to train with Erick is that he is a street cop, a practitioner who brings his real world street experience to the classroom. He will give you practical tools you can begin using immediately.
To see where Erick will be next, check out our Critical Incident Response course.