Director of Tactical & STC Training
RTC Advisory Committee Member
Office: (888) 782-4969   Ext. 8
jcook@thertc.org

Joel Cook is currently an instructor with the Regional Training Center where he facilitates reality-based scenario training centered around Critical Incident Management.  Joel retired from public service in July of 2020.  Before his retirement, Joel had the fortune to work a variety of assignments in two southern California municipal law enforcement agencies during a rapidly changing three decades in law enforcement. Joel’s law enforcement career spans over thirty years of service since 1989 when he joined the Long Beach Police Department as a Police Officer.

Joel has built a wealth of knowledge from his experiences at the Long Beach and Santa Monica Police Departments where he was a part of both departments’ disaster preparedness teams.  As an instructor in the Standardized Emergency Management System and the National Incident Management System he oversaw emergency plan preparations for both departments.  Joel also mentors instructors who teach Critical Incident Command Classes, facilitates FEMA classes and hosts full scale disaster exercises.   

During Joel’s three-decade career he has experienced first-hand numerous watershed moments in law enforcement that dramatically changed the criminal justice and policing landscape.  Some noteworthy examples include the proliferation of drug and gang violence, the North Hollywood Bank Robbery, Columbine, ’92 Los Angeles Riots, LAPD Rampart Scandal, Community Oriented Policing, CompStat, Constitutional Policing, 21^st Century Policing, COVID-19, and the protests/civil disruptions during May/June 2020.

Joel retired as the Assistant Chief for the City of Santa Monica Police Department. At the start of the national COVID-19 pandemic mitigation he was briefly assigned to the Santa Monica City Manager’s Office where he served as the Operation Section Chief for the city’s Emergency Operations Center during the initial COVID-19 response. In 2018, Joel left the Long Beach Police Department as the Commander of the Field Support Division to accept the position of Assistant Chief with the Santa Monica Police Department.

Joel honed his teaching and facilitation skills throughout the entirety of his career.  He has been an instructor in a variety of topics and taught to a variety of students and audiences.  He has taught at the Basic Academy to brand new recruits as well as continuing professional training to veteran full-time police officers.  Joel became a subject expert on Weapons of Mass Destruction, Field Tactics and Mobile Field Force after 9/11.  He has taught numerous classes on the topics of Suicide Bombers, Dirty Bombs, Chemical Warfare agents, Biological Warfare agents, Improvised Explosives and Nuclear materials, Mobile Field Force Tactics, Active Shooter, MACTAC, Command and Control and general Field Tactics. 

Joel was also a member of the Long Beach Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics Team for approximately sixteen years.    During that time, he served as an Entry Officer, Medic, Sergeant, as-needed SWAT Lieutenant and lastly as the SWAT Commander. 

Joel has worked a majority of his career with the Long Beach Police Department in the Patrol Bureau where he spent approximately twenty-two years of his career in field-based assignments.  During his time working for both cities, Joel has been the Incident Commander for numerous spontaneous critical incidents as well as pre-planned large-scale events attended by over 150,000 persons. 

Joel began his career with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from California State University, Long Beach.  He is also a graduate of the Sherman Block Supervisory Institute of Leadership, Class 171.  Joel completed his Master of Science in Emergency Management from California State University, Long Beach in 2008.  Joel holds Management, Supervisory, Advanced, Intermediate, and Basic POST Certificates.