My undergraduate educational background is in psychology and sociology and when I first went to college, I thought I would be a marriage and family counselor. Now, I joke with my former classmates that I ended up as a marriage counselor, but now I do my counseling in the wild!

I started my career in public service as a police officer in a municipality in western Washington State. I was fortunate to be provided numerous opportunities to advance my career from the very beginning. I have been a defensive tactics instructor my entire career and I am a certified Defensive Tactics Master Instructor through the State of Washington. I have also been an active member of the North Sound Metro SWAT Team where I currently serve as one of the Team Leaders. I have served in leadership since 2012 and I was officially promoted to Sergeant in 2017. I am currently the Special Services Sergeant where I oversee training, records, quartermaster, recruitment and community engagement.

I have a passion for teaching leadership and emotional intelligence. I have taught leadership for the Washington State Criminal Justice Training commission since 2018. It was this teaching opportunity that put me in the right place at the right time to develop the emotional intelligence (EI) curriculum for the newly forming statewide patrol tactics instructor course. I took the opportunity to rewrite the EI core block and I am forever grateful for the chance to effect so many relationships. I am currently one of only three Patrol Tactics Master Instructors that travel around the state providing the train-the-trainer curriculum for the Patrol Tactics Instructor Course. It has been an honor to serve alongside some of the most incredible instructors and law enforcement professionals I have ever met.

Throughout my career I have been an active instructor in multiple use of force disciplines including DT, firearms, less lethal munitions and BolaWrap. I am the agencies use of force expert, and I consulted on the 2022 Washington State Attorney Generals Model Use of Force Policy at the request of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.

I thoroughly enjoy public speaking and regularly provide training to civilian audiences regarding de-escalation, emotional intelligence and workplace violence. I also coach fellow instructors in developing their own curriculum and honing their presentation skills. I have provided product development consulting for a variety of industry partners in the following verticals: clothing and uniforms, virtual reality and less lethal systems.

I have provided threat assessment and site evaluations for corporations and high net worth families.

I have a Master of Business Administration and I am an avid reader. Most of my reading list is posted to my Instagram.

I have been a guest on Chris Littrell’s Gravity podcast episode 48 where we discuss leadership and emotional intelligence. You can find a link to the Gravity podcast here. You can find a link to Chris Littrell and Gravity Training and Consulting here.

I was a guest on the Things Police See: First Hand Accounts podcast hosted by Steven Gould. Steven and I have a blast telling stories and discuss leadership and training in law enforcement. You can find a link to the episode here.

The 1IC Training Group is committed to daily improvement. We have pressure tested everything we teach operationally and continue to apply the concepts and principles we discuss on a regular basis in a mission critical environment where the consequence of failure is often death or catastrophic injury.

I believe trusting relationships can change the world, maybe not the whole world, but for one person their whole world. I am here to inspire trust.

-Matt