
Photo courtesy of Shane Ware.
These bricks signify the completion of the 6.1-mile Marine-designed endurance and fitness course at the FBI National Academy by three captains in the Vestavia Hills Police Department: Johnny Evans, Shane Ware and Brian Gilham.
While less than 1 percent of all law enforcement officers in the world will likely have a chance to attend the FBI National Academy, three current Vestavia Hills police captains have graduated from the academy in the past few years: Brian Gilham, Shane Ware and Johnny Evans.
For 10 to 11 weeks, officers from all over the country and around the world are thousands of miles away from their families, housed in Quantico, Virginia. They live in dorms, attend rigorous academic classes and participate in a physical fitness regimen that pushes them to the extreme, including a 6.1-mile course designed by Marines nicknamed the “Yellow Brick Road.” The academy is reserved for executives and leaders in law enforcement. Officers must be nominated, go through an extensive application process and wait to see if they are chosen.
Alabama currently sends five officers to each academy session. Splitting the state in half, the northern half of the state and the southern half of the state rotate who sends two officers and who sends three for each session.
Gilham graduated in 2014, while Evans graduated in 2017. Ware, the most recent graduate, finished in 2019.
Officers take classes focusing on police tactics, leadership, fitness, media relations and a range of other topics, all focused on making them better leaders and law enforcement officers.
Evans said he found that officers around the world all face similar problems of recruiting and retaining new officers.
While the officers learn along with their law enforcement families, their families back home also sacrifice, taking care of things while they are away.
Gilham said after he left for Quantico, but before he arrived on base, his wife called and told him the air conditioner had gone out.
“She’s the real hero,” Gilham said of his wife.
When Evans left in 2017, tragedy struck back home. While he was away, Vestavia officer Bobby Hancock took his own life. During his time in the academy, Evans was able to take a class about leading “at-risk employees” within law enforcement offices.
“I probably would not have understood what was going on with him had I not taken that class,” Evans said. “I now understand some of the challenges and some of the things that people are facing outside of the job and because of the job.”
Ware said being at Quantico was like being away from home, working on a graduate degree while completing an “aggressive” physical fitness program, with some fun added.
Officers have a chance to sightsee and travel. Ware said he enjoyed a private tour of the Pentagon. When officers attend the academy, they’re usually more than halfway through their careers, but the training reminds them why they’re in the field, Gilham said.
“It reinvigorates you as an officer,” he said. “It’s a challenge, typically late in your career that reinvigorates your spirit, reminds you why you chose this profession and pushes you to become a better person, a better leader and a better police officer.”
The captains have tried to instill the lessons on leadership and policing they learned to younger officers. Some of the instructors from the academy have even come to talk to the department.
Evans said he wants to create a legacy of Vestavia officers attending the academy, and while no one is yet scheduled to go anytime soon, two more officers have started the application process.