A Poplar Bluff police captain recently joined an elite group of law enforcement officers from across the country and around the world when he graduated from the FBI National Academy.
Held on the FBI campus in Quanitco, Va., the academy was 10 weeks of college-level classes, which focused on leadership in law enforcement, explained Capt. Dave Sutton.
"Basically, it was a full semester of college, 17 credit hours, in 10 weeks," Sutton said. " ... They were standard college classes; there was plenty of homework."
As one of 228, Sutton said, he attended classes for 9 1/2 hours a day, four days a week.
"There was an emphasis placed on fitness, so there was PT (physical training) four days a week, including a physical challenge every Wednesday," Sutton said.
The physical challenges, he said, became "progressively more difficult" each week, leading up to a 6-mile run.
The FBI's website bills the final challenge as the "Yellow Brick Road." It is described as a hilly, wooded trail built by the Marines, who used yellow bricks at various spots as markers.
Along the way, participants must climb 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.
As far as the classroom instruction, Sutton said, everyone who attended "selected courses just like college."
Classes in cyber threats, behavioral science, report writing, legal issues and leadership essentials, as well as a physical training class, were Sutton's choices.
The physical training class, he explained, was "three hours of classroom each week, geared toward developing a fitness program for your department."
Sutton said he chose the classes because they "seemed interesting."
Not a fan of public speaking, Sutton tailored his classes to avoid it, but "I still did way more than I would have liked," he said. "It about killed me."
On the first day of classes, Sutton said, he learned in week five he would have to give a 30-minute presentation on a case study.
"I was sick until week five," he said.
For his presentation, Sutton said, he did a case study on the department's investigation of Jeffery Shelton, who he described as a serial rapist, with three prior convictions in Texas at the time of his arrest locally.
In 2012, Shelton allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted a then 5-year-old Poplar Bluff, Mo., girl and then 10-year-old Qulin, Mo., girl. He recorded the alleged abuse on his cellphone, which led to the filing of federal charges.
Shelton is serving 120 years in federal prison for producing and possessing child pornography involving the girls.
Presenting a department-related case, Sutton said, is what the instructors wanted.
Instead of instructor lectures, he said, the class focused on the officers learning from each other.
Sutton said all the classes were geared toward the officers talking to each other and learning that way.
"The classes, the physical training and the isolation, being away from home for 10 weeks, was challenging," Sutton said. " ... It was difficult, but it was rewarding."
Sutton said he brought back a lot of ideas for the department.
"I was able to network; I met officers from all over the world," which provided "different perspectives for problems we are all facing," Sutton said.
The academy's command staff, Sutton said, came from all over the country, as well as 24 other countries.
Sutton's classmates represented local, state, federal, military, "any conceivable law enforcement agency," as well as regulatory agencies, such as the U.S. Mint and U.S. Secret Service. All of the military branches, he said, had someone there.
To attend, each had to be nominated by his or her agency head.
Sutton said he had known for a while Chief Danny Whiteley had nominated him for the academy.
"I was on a waiting list for at least 10 years; that's not unusual," Sutton said. "Most of the officers there had been waiting for years to get the opportunity to go.
"It was a once-in-a-career, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Sutton was one of only three officers from the "whole state of Missouri" to attend this academy, Whiteley said.
"He certainly joined a very elite group of officers that ever get that opportunity" to attend, Whiteley said. "This is something that is going to be a benefit to him, the department and the community."
Networking with "that group," according to Whiteley, is phenomenal.
"I certainly have a lot of admiration for Dave and his law enforcement skills, and I certainly want to acknowledge and thank him for the 2 1/2 months of sacrifice of him and his family by being away from home and being apart," said Whiteley, who also wanted to thank FBI assistant special agent in charge, Bill Woods, of the St. Louis, Mo., office for his help in getting Sutton into the academy.