My FBI-LEEDA Journey By Matt Davis

When I was sworn in as a Sergeant in February 2018, I was excited and ready to lead other policing professionals. For the first seven years of my career, I was a lead investigator on major cases while a member of a vice crimes unit and worked with a few federal agencies as a temporary task force officer. Based on my experience, becoming a sergeant was the next natural step in where I would excel. Soon after becoming a sergeant and being assigned to detention line operations, I discovered that my leadership skills might not be as complete as I thought. The first year was challenging, and I missed my investigations job, which required me to do “high-speed” investigations. During that time, I was looking for information on policing leadership. By mid-2019, I had been assigned back to the patrol division as a sergeant and was enjoying seeing the sun again, but I was still struggling internally to be a good leader. One day, I was given a copy of FBI-LEEDA Insighter Magazine by a lieutenant who told me that this place provides leadership training.? The leadership insight in the articles impressed me as I read the magazine, and the details about the various training programs offered seemed relevant. I looked up when the next class would be in my area and submitted a training request to attend the Supervisor Leadership Institute (SLI).

I attended the Supervisor Leadership Institute in February 2020, and it was fantastic to be in a room with other policing professionals who wanted to learn more about leadership. I left the class feeling like I had real-life leadership skills to take back with me to use with my teammates. A month after completing my 1st FBI-LEEDA class, the world was locked down due to COVID-19. The world had changed forever, and I was glad I had some leadership skills to deal with the new challenges of leading policing professionals. Right as the world was starting to unlock itself, the protest began, and the police went from heroes to enemy #1 in America. Daily, I used tools taught in SLI to help navigate a changing and never-seen-before landscape as a policing leader. I was very thankful for those tools during that time of change. As the year ended, I discovered that FBI-LEEDA would be holding a live conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in April of 2021. As soon as I could get approval from my organization, I signed up.

I can honestly say that attending the FBI-LEEDA conference in 2021 changed my life. During the conference, I met other policing professionals and saw that I was not the only one struggling to understand what had happened to law enforcement over the last 12 months. The speakers at the conference talked about the changes that had occurred and how we needed to embrace them. Being at the conference and meeting people from around the world opened my eyes to the fact that the law enforcement community was much bigger than the Denver Metro area. I was also able to start building a network of policing professionals that I could use as a resource or sounding board to help me grow as a leader. I completed Command Leadership Institute (CLI) and Executive Leadership Institute (ELI) to complete my Trilogy Award in early 2022.?

In April, I recently returned from my third FBI-LEEDA conference in San Antonio, Texas. It did not disappoint, and I was so excited to see the number of policing professionals who attended. I attended this time as a lieutenant since I was promoted in 2023. I also enjoyed attending with two of my old investigation teammates who are now in leadership and Trilogy Award recipients. It was also amazing to reflect on how people at my first LEEDA conference are now members of the Executive Board. I am also so proud to see that many of the people I have become friends with have gotten promoted to leadership positions over the last three years.

I am so grateful for FBI-LEEDA and the slogan “Leaders are Readers!” I am now a leadership student at the University of Denver . I will complete my Master of Science in Organizational Leadership in the next few years because I desire to read and gain knowledge. Me sharing my FBI-LEEDA journey is not an advertisement for the program, but I hope it encourages one person to start their leadership journey.

? Matt Davis