Joe Preciado
Joe Preciado is a sergeant with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office where he currently oversees all in-service training for his department. Joe has been with the Sheriff’s Office since 1993. His experience includes years in investigations, patrol, and instructor positions. Joe was selected to be an instructor for our Science-Based Interviewing course for two reasons, 1) his extensive investigative experience where he has conducted countless high-profile interviews and 2) his vast teaching experience.
Joe’s investigative experience includes General Felony Investigations, Major Crimes Investigations as a Sexual Assault and Child Crimes investigator, and assignment to LAPD’S Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Joe understands what it is like to be a busy patrol officer and detective and knows our students need simple interview techniques that will work. Whether it’s interviewing a suspect, witness or victim, Joe has a vast amount of experience to pull from and transfer that institutional knowledge to our students.
Joe’s experience teaching spans several decades. He started teaching in 1996 with a rather simple task: to help his department’s transition to a new expandable baton. Ever since that day, Joe has continued to teach both in-service and academy courses non-stop. Joe is a California POST certified instructor in a multitude of topics that include Academy Instructor Certification where he trains other trainers, Defensive Tactics, Firearms, Tactical Communications, Taser, Use of Force/De-escalation, Gracie Survival Tactics Instructor and many more. He is also a whiz at course design, having been part of a small team who created and implemented his department’s academy instructor certification course.
Joe is passionate about constantly evolving his interview techniques. In 2023, Joe was selected to attend both basic and advanced Science-Based Interviewing training and has implemented these new techniques into our curriculum. That means that when you attend our Science-Based Interviewing course you are not only learning from an active practitioner, but also learning up to date techniques.
One of Joe’s favorite quotes is by Mark Van Doren who said, “The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.” Joe has quickly garnered a reputation with our students for being an instructor who can facilitate learning in a way that appeals to cops. No Death by Power Point here!
To see Joe in action, get registered for our Science-Based Interviewing training course.
