David Harvey M.P.A.
Past MCOLES Director
Chief Operations Office                                              

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David is the former MCOLES Director and Police Chief in Garden City Michigan. After his retirement as Chief in Garden City, he later found a career as City Manager in Garden City, putting to use his Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Michigan.  

 

Throughout his law enforcement career, he has held positions in several units such as patrol, narcotics investigations and crime prevention.  Prior to his role as Chief at both Garden City and Detroit Metropolitan Airport, he served the ranks of Detective Sergeant and Lieutenant.  David has served as an instructor in both Firearms and OUIL to name a few.  

 

In addition to his work with Shield Leadership, David continues his passion with a wide array of experiences to include overseeing law enforcement projects in Nigeria, Kosovo, Serbia and has served as keynote speaker for a law enforcement conference in Columbia.   

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David continues his passion giving back to law enforcement education, having served as both an Adjunct Instructor and Assistant Professor for the past twenty years with his Alma Mater, Madonna University, where he received his B.A. in Criminal Justice. 

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Kymberli Flanagan, Ph.D.

Chief Education Officer

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Dr. Flanagan is a first generation college student that always hoped for a career in law enforcement.  While paths led her to a degree in Business and decades long work in Hospitality Management, her graduate degrees led her to curriculum development, instructional design and educational leadership in vocational subjects. Her research interests are in the education of adult learners and cross generational workplaces.

 

Dr. Flanagan currently works at Ferris State University as a faculty member in the College of Business as well as being the program advisor for business programs at the Grand Rapids campus. Her passion for program development, accreditation process, curriculum building and adult learners led her to this work with Shield Leadership Institute.

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Darnell Blackburn

Instructor

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Blackburn has been actively involved in law enforcement for more than 27 years. He started his professional law enforcement career as a Michigan State University police officer serving a diverse student body population. He later served as a patrol officer for the Auburn Hills Police Department and gained hands-on experience working as a community police officer, undercover narcotics detective and investigator.
 

For the past 16 years, Blackburn has worked for the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards. The commission is nationally recognized as a leader in the development of training and ethical standards for law enforcement officers. Blackburn also serves as an adjunct professor at Macomb Community College and is the founder/creator of the "Be the Change" initiative, an effort to help encourage more diversity within the law enforcement community.
 

His training and consulting service is centered on empowering people by enhancing their
communication skills to adequately handle a vast array of situations. Blackburn says research
shows that a well-trained staff is imperative to building a quality customer service-driven
business, and learning how to effectively communicate and respond in critical incidents are key to ensuring that such incidents have positive outcomes.

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Tim Gibbons

Instructor

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Garden City Police Chief Tim Gibbons joined the Garden City Police Department in 2002. In
2008 and 2009, he was a member of the elite multi-jurisdictional task force, Metro Street
Enforcement Team, which operated in Garden City, Wayne-Westland and Inkster to target
major crimes and narcotics incidents.  He returned to road patrol duties and was promoted to sergeant in 2011. He also served as an entry team member and a scout/sniper on the Garden City Police Department Emergency Response Team.
 

Gibbons, who held a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Michigan University with a double
major in public law and government and psychology, enrolled in Western Michigan
University’s Cooley Law School in 2008 and emerged with a law degree in 2013. He graduated magna cum laude and ranked 28th in a class of 371.
 

Gibbons earned numerous awards, including Police Officer of the Year in 2014. While
serving as sergeant, he developed and implemented the department’s hazardous
driving detail, which was a program that uses statistical information to target problem
traffic areas with high accident rates. The program reduced accident and crime rates in
the targeted area.
 

Gibbons, who was born in Garden City and is a founding member of Michigan Law
Enforcement Training Associates where he serves as an instructing attorney providing
in-service police legal instruction and policy agency advisement focusing laws and
policies concerning police discipline and discharge, use of force, officer involved shootings and the use of Taser.

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Kevin Cisler

Instructor

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Lieutenant Kevin Cisler grew up in Holland and graduated from West Ottawa High School in 1992. He went through the academy and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Ferris State University in 1996. He started his career with Zeeland Police Department as a part-time officer in September of 1998. He became a full-time police officer in the summer of 1999 when a position was created for D.A.R.E./Community Policing Officer.  This position consisted of teaching D.A.R.E. to Zeeland school children ages Kindergarten to fifth grade as well as community policing. After 3 school years he went into the patrol division and worked nights until 2011 when he switched to day shift.  He had the honor of being selected as a Field training Officer in 2005, and has trained over 20 new officers. He was promoted to Corporal in the fall of 2005.  In 2017 Chief William Olney retired after 17 years and then Corporal Cisler was named Interim Chief of Police Operations. 

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In April of 2018 Tim Jungel was selected as the new Chief of Police. Cisler was placed in charge of the MACP Accreditation process and quickly became an Accreditation Manager and Assessor.  Cisler was promoted from Corporal to Sergeant in January of 2019. On March 2nd, 2021 the Zeeland Police Department was accredited by the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP).  Sergeant Cisler was promoted to Lieutenant in February of 2022. Lieutenant Cisler is currently the Vice President of the Police Accreditation Coalition (PAC) which is closely associated with the Michigan Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission (MILEAC). MILEAC is in charge of accrediting police agencies in Michigan. Lieutenant Cisler also is the property room custodian for ZPD. In July 2021 he joined the Shield Institute Team. Lieutenant Cisler continues to work on the accreditation effort as well as investigate complaints, and road patrol with passion and pride for his department.