QUANTICO, Va. — Two Sacramento-area law enforcement supervisors recently graduated from a 10-week FBI training program and plan to bring their knowledge to the local level.
Capt. Vance Chandler, of the Sacramento Police Department, and Lt. Lou Wright, of the Folsom Police Department, were two of five officers in the area who attended the FBI academy in Quantico, Virginia. Chandler and Wright’s session consisted of over 250 members from law enforcement agencies across 26 countries, seven military organizations and seven federal civilian organizations, the Folsom Police Department said.
They graduated on Sept. 12.
The FBI National Academy, which the pair enrolled in, is a nonprofit and not officially part of the FBI. The organization provides senior officers with expertise, training, education and information. Nationally, fewer than 1% of officers have the opportunity to participate in the program, according to the Folsom Police Department. Chandler said it’s conducted four times per year.
Capt. Vance Chandler
Chandler, 46, supervises the north command of the Sacramento Police Department. He was endorsed by the department and Police Chief Kathy Lester to attend the program, and he applied at the regional FBI office.
Chandler said he waited for roughly a year and a half to attend. Once finally at the academy, he selected courses on conflict resolution, navigating internal leadership crisis and managing the law enforcement image.
“We were able to really dive deep into challenges that we face in law enforcement,” Chandler told ABC10. “One of the things that we talked about was the new mandates to release police records, and that includes significant incidents such as officer-involved shootings. There is value to sharing that with the community.”
Chandler said the department is limited in resources, and there are challenges with recruiting and retention.
“We have more workload for our personnel,” he said. “We're really challenged because we're not given more people to be able to do that workload.”
While attending the academy, Chandler also learned he achieved the record for the fastest mile time in his age group at five minutes and 11 seconds.
"I now hold the fastest mile time for the master's division, which is 40 and over. Us old guys,” he said. “There were three others who've attended the FBI National Academy that were faster, that were much younger.”
Lt. Lou Wright
Wright, 44, is a lieutenant in the Folsom Police Department’s administrative division, and he oversees its communication center, professional standards, hiring, training and accountability.
A majority of classes he took at the academy centered on wellness and how to apply it to members of a police force who experience post-traumatic stress disorder, stress leave and substance abuse.
“Outside the classroom portion, the networking was probably one of the bigger takeaways because you're there with 256 people from all around the world,” Wright said. “To learn how somebody else does something in a different state, a different city or even a different country doesn't mean that we can't apply that here in Folsom or in the state of California.”
He said the ability to continue to bounce ideas off each participant and learn from them is like no other, and there is a group chat still in use two weeks after the program ended.
Wright, like Chandler, took the class on managing the law enforcement image.
“We care about our community greatly, and we want to highlight that because the men and women of this profession throughout the country, and specifically within my agency, they do a phenomenal job every day,” Wright said. “Unfortunately, if we don't tell our own story, oftentimes those stories don't get told.”
Wright applied to the program and was accepted, but it was his boss, Police Chief Rick Hillman, who selected Wright to represent Folsom this time around. Wright is one of 10 officers in department history who completed the program.
“It was a great experience. Vance is really fast,” Wright said. “You know, I'm 250 pounds, and I ran the mile in six minutes and 13 seconds. My P.T. instructor said that they've never seen anybody my size run the mile that fast.”
Other participants from the Central Valley included Selma Police Department Chief Rudy Alcaraz, Kern County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Erik Levig and California Highway Patrol Capt. Anthony Horner.
