FBI National Academy Graduates First LCSO Executive

Captain Brian Estes

The FBI National Academy is a professional course of study for U.S. and international law enforcement managers nominated by their agency heads because of demonstrated leadership qualities.

The 10-week program—which provides coursework in intelligence theory, terrorism and terrorist mindsets, management science, law, behavioral science, law enforcement communication, and forensic science—serves to improve the administration of justice in law enforcement agencies at home and abroad and to raise law enforcement standards, knowledge, and cooperation worldwide.

Captain Estes was selected from a large group of law enforcement professionals.  Of the five slots available from our state, Captain Estes was one of five selected.   In essence, only about 1% of law enforcement professionals have the opportunity to attend this academy.

Captain Estes graduated from Session 268 of the FBI National Academy, which was made up of 228 Executive Officers from 47 different states and 24 different countries. Captain Estes also completed graduate level classes with the University of Virginia.

Training such as this is not only important to the development of one’s vision for their agency, it provides a true networking between the attendees where they share successes and failures, knowledge, experience, and ideas.

National Academy graduates fondly recall their experience on the “Yellow Brick Road.” The final test of the fitness challenge, the Yellow Brick Road is a grueling 6.1-mile run through a hilly, wooded trail built by the Marines. Along the way, the participants 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 this difficult test, they receive an actual yellow brick to memorialize their achievement. The course came to be known as the “Yellow Brick Road” years ago, after the Marines placed yellow bricks at various spots to show runners the way through the wooded trail. The overall fitness challenge began at the National Academy in 1981 and has evolved over the years, and beginning in 1988, the tradition of awarding “yellow bricks” began.

Please help me in congratulating Captain Brian Estes for such a distinguished accolade!