LOCKUP Training Team

Sergeant Geoffrey Anderson (Ret.) is a 25 year veteran law enforcement officer retired from the Newington CT Police Department. Sergeant Anderson served as a patrol supervisor, training coordinator, detective and patrol officer. As an Assistant SWAT Team Leader since 1990, Sergeant Anderson has helped handle numerous critical incidents.

Sergeant Anderson has been instructing police officers in police fighting tactics since 1985 and SWAT tactics since 1993. He is a state certified instructor in: SWAT Tactics, Patrol Procedures, Handgun Retention, as well as being a Physical Fitness Specialist,  Firearms Instructor, and Senior Master Instructor and Codeveloper of the L.O.C.K.U.P.® Police Combat System.

Sergeant Anderson (Ret.) has been studying martial arts for the past 25 years. He has studied systems including Judo, Wrestling, Kenpo Karate, the United States Police Corps Arrest and Control Instructor Program, Handgun Retention, as well as numerous police defensive tactics programs. He has earned a 3rd Black Belt through the L.O.C.K.U.P.® Police Combat System with over 15 years of dedication to the development of this system. Sergeant Anderson has coauthored, and is featured in, the internationally recognized Police Combat Tactics DVD series with Lieutenant Kevin Dillon (Ret.).

Sergeant Anderson is a full time Instructor with the Connecticut Police Officers and Standards Training Council. He is the lead instructor for Connecticut Arrest and Control Combative (L.O.C.K.U.P.®) programs.

Sergeant Cruz started his Arrest and Control L.O.C.K.U.P.® Instructors training with the spring  2001 course and is now one of the only members to achieve the rank of Senior Master Instructor of the L.O.C.K.U.P.® System. Sergeant Cruz has a martial arts background that includes Chinese Kenpo, grappling arts and hand to hand combat and a 2nd degree black belt in the L.O.C.K.U.P. ®Police Combat System. Sergeant Cruz has been selected as a member of the L.O.C.K.U.P.®  Travel Demo Team and is an avid physical fitness practitioner.

Since 1997, Sergeant Cruz has competed in several bodybuilding contest shows and placed third. He has assisted numerous officers with their workouts and nutrition and instructs a newly developed program called Police Combat Fitness. This program develops a solid foundation for the physical fitness needs of the officer using nutrition and modern day fitness and weight training techniques that are consistent with the combative philosophies of L.O.C.K.U.P.®. Sergeant Cruz has been a lead instructor for KFD Training and Consultation LLC since 2001.

Sergeant Guy Samuelson (Ret.), retired as detective sergeant, after 20 years with the the New Milford, Connecticut Police Department. He then joined the St. Cloud Police Department in St. Cloud, Florida. While in New Milford Guy  supervised both the Patrol Division and Investigative Services Bureau. Sergeant Samuelson was responsible for supervising narcotics investigations including all raid planning and all general/special investigations (he has specialized training in these fields). He has been a member of the police department’s Dive/Recovery Team. Sergeant Samuelson has been a certified police instructor for over 20 years, covering handcuffing, O/C, straight baton, use of force, firearms, driving and all hands on training, which now includes the L.O.C.K.U.P.® System. He is an adjunct instructor at the Connecticut Police Academy for handcuffing and L.O.C.K.U.P.® Sergeant Samuelson has also instructed in use of force for the recertification of Connecticut Police Officers and is IPMBA certified.

Sergeant Samuelson has many years of martial arts training including Chinese Kenpo, and mixed martial arts, is a life member of the United States Martial Arts Association and has worked as a strength and conditioning coach for local high school football teams in Connecticut. Sergeant Samuelson has been training with Lieutenant Dillon (Ret.) and Sergeant Anderson (Ret.) in the L.O.C.K.U.P.® system since 2002, and has been involved in the continuous development of this combat system and the certification of new instructors. Sergeant Samuelson is also an instructor for the Soulis Shooting System, developed by retired Jacksonville Sheriff Deputy Pete Soulis in conjunction with L.O.C.K.U.P.®.

Sergeant Samuelson has been selected as a member of the L.O.C.K.U.P.® Travel Demo team and is an avid physical fitness practitioner. Sergeant Samuelson also instructs a newly developed program called Police Combat Fitness. This program develops a solid foundation for the physical fitness needs of the officer using modern day fitness and weight training techniques consistent with the combative philosophies of L.O.C.K.U.P.® As part of the demo team Sergeant Samuelson has presented/ demoed at the United States Martial Arts Association conference in St Louis, MI.

Sergeant Samuelson is now serving as the high liability training coordinator with the Criminal Justice Academy of Osceola Florida and is certified in the State of Florida as a defensive tactics, firearms and driving instructor. Samuelson had been an officer with the St. Cloud Police Department and a deputy with the Osceola County Sheriffs Office. He is still a reserve deputy with the sheriffs office, and is the southern region L.O.C.K.U.P.® representative. Sergeant Samuelson has been a lead instructor for KFD Training and Consultation LLC since 2001.

Officer Josh Seifert has ten years of law enforcement experience with the Bloomington Police Department in Minnesota. He is currently assigned to the patrol division’s Mall of America Unit. In addition to his patrol duties, Josh has been a combatives instructor for over eight years and during that time has attended several L.O.C.K.U.P.® courses. Officer Seifert was personally selected by Lt. Kevin F. Dillon (Ret.) to serve on his instruction staff. He has studied Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Goshin Jiu Jitsu, American and Thai Boxing and used that experience to introduce the principles of ground fighting, team arrest and control tactics early in his training career.

Officer Seifert has been a firearms instructor since 2004 and is a codeveloper of the Bloomington combat pistol and gun fighting school that he teaches to several metro agencies. Officer Seifert has completed training in two Soulis Shooting System courses and finished first in the Special Operator’s Training Association’s annual Delta Pistol Competition in 2005, 2006, 2007, and second in 2008.

Since 2004 Officer Seifert has been a proud member of the Bloomington Police Department’s SWAT Team. Josh graduated from the Snipercraft Basic Sniper School in 2005, the advanced school in 2007 and continues to be heavily involved in the local police sniper training community.

In 2009, Josh completed his Bachelor of Science Degree in Police Science from Saint Mary’s University and authored his Capstone paper on the topic of Reality-Based Training. He was invited back to Saint Mary’s University to present his Capstone topic to the fall 2009 police science graduating class. When Josh isn’t working, training, or going to school, you can find him in southeastern Utah riding his mountain bike.

Officer Percy A. Smith is an 18 year veteran of the Pawtucket Police Department in Pawtucket, RI. He worked as a patrolman for 12 years and served on his department’s Special Response Team (SRT) for 6 years.  He has been working in the Training Division for the last 6 years, where he is a background investigator, firearms instructor, Taser instructor, verbal de-escalation instructor and mental health first aid instructor. He has taught defensive tactics for his department since 2008.

Percy has been a lead instructor, teaching the L.O.C.K.U.P. program, at the Rhode Island Municipal Police Training Academy (RIMPTA) for the last decade. There, along with the other lead instructors, he has been highly involved in writing the combatives curriculum for the state. Percy has also assisted teaching at several other departments, such as Portsmouth PD, Providence PD, RI State Police, the Donald J. Wyatt Federal Detention Facility and the Airport Police at T.F. Green International airport.

Percy has been involved with combat sports since he was in high school, where he was a state champion wrestler. From there he went on to wrestle in college at American International College, where he started as a freshman and placed in the All American qualifier tournament.  He then went on to compete in both MMA and grappling, were he won several titles along with becoming a Carlos Machado black belt in BJJ under Peter Jeffery at Triforce MMA in Pawtucket, RI.  Percy also holds the rank of black belt in Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu under Manny Neves.

Percy is a master L.O.C.K.U.P. instructor and along with Lieutenant Bryan Palagi, was selected by Lt. Dillon to travel the country teaching the L.O.C.K.U.P. Edged Weapon – Ground Control course as well as L.O.C.K.U.P. Arrest and Control training course.

Lieutenant Bryan Palagi has over 10 years of law enforcement experience. He joined the Tiverton (RI) Police department in 2012 after completing the Rhode Island Municipal Police Training Academy (RIMPTA) class 2012-I. Lieutenant Palagi has served in a patrol capacity (including supervisor / shift commander) for the majority of his career and has also been responsible for his department’s Planning and Training Division since 2021. At the department level, he has served as a Use of Force instructor and lead instructor for the majority of his career. He is also part of the Tiverton Police Department’s UOF Investigation and Analysis Team.

Lieutenant Palagi is a state certified law enforcement instructor in Use of Force and has been part of the RIMPTA Use of Force Instructor Cadre for the majority of his career. Not only is he a lead instructor for the municipal academy responsible for the instruction of thousands of recruits from more than thirty agencies, Lieutenant Palagi has also been an instrumental part of establishing the UOF curriculum for the state of Rhode Island. During the past several years, he has also been asked to instruct at the Providence Police and Rhode Island State Police Academies.

Lieutenant Palagi is the recipient of both a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice and a Master’s Degree in Justice Studies from Roger Williams University. He is an avid weight trainer and martial artist. Along with training in Judo and American Kickboxing, Lieutenant Palagi has devoted much of his free time to training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for over a decade and recently earned the rank of BJJ black belt. Lieutenant Palagi has been involved with L.O.C.K.U.P. as a certified instructor since 2013. In 2022, he was hand-picked by Lieutenant Kevin F. Dillon (Retired) to join the L.O.C.K.U.P. team and has traveled the country instructing in L.O.C.K.U.P. Edged Weapon – Ground Control as well as L.O.C.K.U.P. Arrest and Control training courses.

Deputy Greg Hix is a Deputy for the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office since 2008.  Deputy Hix has worked his entire career in Corrections.  He was a Member and Team Leader on the Cell Extraction Team for 10 years and is currently a member of the Departments SWAT Team.  He is an instructor in:  Less lethal, Defensive Tactics, Edge weapons, Ground defense, OC, Master Taser, Pepperball, Baton, Custody/Security, Riot training, Cell Extractions, Range Instructor, L.E.A.D.S. Law Enforcement Active De-escalation Strategies, CIT and IPC.  He has train thousands of Deputies and Officers through Corrections Academies, Inservice and with L.O.C.K.U.P. Arrest and Control Instructor Training.

 

 

Deputy Jason Miller has been at the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office since 2007, before that he began his career with the City of Pontiac as a Cadet and Road patrol officer in 2003. Throughout his time with the Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Miller has been certified as an instructor in; firearms and Range officer, Rifle and Shotgun, Less lethal, in multiple defensive tactics systems, Edge weapons, Ground defense, taser, Pepperball, Sabre, Baton, Active shooter, simmunitions, Custody and security, Riot training, Cell Extractions, IPC, EVO, PTT, Vehicle CQB, Room entries and CQC. Throughout his time, he has had the opportunity to train hundreds of new deputies through the corrections academies and thousands throughout in-service trainings. Miller has had the pleasure with assisting other agencies in setting up cell extraction teams and additional trainings. Training and instructing are passions of his that he has poured his professional time into. Miller firmly believes you must continue to grow and learn in this job field, or you have failed yourself and your partners.

Miller worked the first 15 years with Oakland County in corrections as a Cell Extraction Team member and team leader. While on the cell Extraction he had the pleasure to design and build out trainings, policies and team SOP’s and structure. Working on a team that was assigned a large amount of work he was involved in several hundred extractions and use of force scenarios.  After going to the road patrol Miller had the pleasure of becoming a SWAT operator. Working in these different arenas had allowed Miller to grow and become more prepared as an instructor and able to pass along knowledge that has been collected from all areas of our job.

Inspector Toni Weinbeck has been an officer in a mid-size agency in the Minneapolis area of Minnesota since 2004. She has been promoted to the rank of Inspector overseeing many operations within the agency. Toni has held the positions of Lieutenant, sergeant, patrol officer, school resource officer, and community liaison officer working with at-risk youth in the community. She is also a combatives instructor with certifications in L.O.C.K.U.P.®, LVNR, O.C, and PPCT.

Toni holds a bachelor’s degree in police science from St. Mary’s University, and a master’s degree in public safety administration from St. Mary’s University.

Toni has a third degree black belt in Tang Soo Do. One of the two schools she co-owned was a school for people with disabilities where, for 10 years, she volunteered teaching people with disabilities ranging from autism to cerebral palsy. Toni has trained in Kali, Kenpo, Muay Thai, and Krav Maga. In her personal time she loves to run, bike, and spend time with her Boxer Sully.

Toni is another hand picked trainer personally selected by Lt. Kevin Dillon to serve as a national instructor on the L.O.C.K.U.P.® team.