Police Lieutenant Dustin Newman to attend 10-week training at FBI’s National Academy
A police officer serving with the Baker City (Oregon) Police Department (BCPD) – with links to Mountain Lake – has been accepted into the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, according to an article in the “Baker County News.”
Lieutenant Dustin Newman, the son of Joe and Jeannie (Crawford) Newman of Dallas, Oregon, and grandson of the late Jim and Shirley Crawford, will be the first officer in the history of the BCPD to attend the 10-week training program when it is held this summer.
Not to be mistaken with FBI agent training, this course focuses on developing executive level law enforcement skills, both inside the classroom and out. This training might include “leaders and managers of state, local, county, tribal, police, military, federal and international law enforcement agencies” according to information posted on the FBI’s website.
The course is by invitation only, and only 220 participants from across the nation are selected.
“There is a huge standard to meet,” states BCPD Chief Wyn Lohner. “While some trainings include more of the social aspect, this one requires an 85% academic average in order to graduate.”
The training will be held on the 547-acre United States Marine Corps Base in Quantico. The Academy is often referred to as the “West Point of Law Enforcement.”
Shares Lt. Newman, “There will be a lot of schoolwork. I will be completing something like 20 papers while I am there. There are mid-terms and finals – it is graduate-level classwork.”
Classes offered include law, behavioral science, forensic science, understanding terrorism/terrorist mindsets, leadership, communication and health/fitness.
The classes are accredited through the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, and graduates come out with around 19 college credits.
A second aspect of the Academy – the intense physical training – is something Lt. Newman will be adjusting his current workout routine to parallel. “This is something for which you have to train,” he says.
The “Yellow Brick Road” is the final fitness test for participants. The FBI describes this test as, “a gruesome 6.1-mile run through a hilly, wooded trail built by the Marines. Along the way, participant must climb over walls, run through creeks, jump through simulated windows, scale rock faces with ropes, crawl under barbed wire in muddy water, maneuver across a cargo net and more. When – and if – the students complete the difficult test, they receive an actual yellow brick which will help them remember the successful struggle. The course got its name as the
Yellow Brick Road years ago, after the Marines placed yellow bricks at various spots to show runners the way through the trail.”
Lt. Newman explains that he is also looking into the Blue Brick Road – which involves a swimming test.
The expenses for the training come from the FBI’s budget.
After leaving the military, Lt. Newman’s law enforcement career began in 1999 as a Polk County Sheriff’s Reserve Officer. He worked his way up the ranks in western Oregon before accepting a position with the BCPD in 2014. He was promoted to Lieutenant in May 2015. He graduated from Waconia High School in Waconia, Minnesotat in 1994. He and his wife, Katie, have two children, and live in Baker City, a city in northeastern Oregon with a population of approximately 9,769.
While this training is not required for a management-level police officer, it satisfies Oregon’s required executive-level police certification.
Explains Chief Lohner, “I have an obligation to the community to prepare new leaders in this department who will eventually replace us as we retire out. It is important to build that leadership into the department – and this training is the best of the best.”
