By James Day
For a police officer, getting an opportunity to train at the FBI Academy is the ultimate feather in your cap. The intense ten-week course, which is free to those whose applications are accepted, is the equivalent of graduate school-level instruction. And you learn from and with city, county, state, federal, NCIS and even NASA law enforcement personnel.
Captain Todd Engstrom of the Silverton Police Department returned in September from his ten weeks at Quantico, Virginia, and he’s still beaming. So is Deputy Chief Charlie Hall of Mount Angel.
“There were a lot of chiefs in my class,” Engstrom said. “I built some really good relationships with people and I know I can pick up the phone … and use them as a sounding board.”
The FBI Academy shares space with a Marine base and Engstrom described the 547-acre facility as a “beautiful campus. It looks like a small university.”
And treats you like you are at a small university.
“They keep you busy,” said Engstrom, who is halfway to a master’s at the University of Virginia as a result of his FBI Academy classes. Every student has to take a fitness course, while Engstrom filled his course load with classes such as managing and leading at-risk employees, conflict resolution and strategic communications.
The schedule for Hall, whose Academy class graduated in March, included classes in crisis negotiations, media relations, essentials for leaders, effective writing, and behavioral science.
“I was involved in the international partnership program, which was an international group within the larger academy class,” Hall said. “Growing up, I had many positive experiences with foreign exchange students in our community and in my family. Learning about other countries has been a lifelong interest for me.
“There were 28 countries represented in my class. My roommate during the academy was from Panama, employed by the National Border Service of Panama. We became fast friends and spent a lot of time together outside of class, including earning our ‘blue brick’ for swimming a total of 34 miles during the academy.”
Engstrom, who served 27 years in the Portland Police Bureau before retiring and joining the Silverton force in 2021, said one of his key takeaways from the FBI Academy was the importance of officer wellness.
“Wellness is big in law enforcement,” he said, “It’s something I really want to push forward. Physical wellness as well as financial and spiritual. Also, it’s making sure they have resources and are not afraid to use them.”
Hall has spent his police career at the Mt. Angel Police Department.
“I started as a reserve police officer in 2008 and became a full-time officer in 2010. I was a school resource officer from 2014-2018 and promoted to sergeant in 2018. A few months after coming back from the FBI National Academy, I was promoted to deputy chief.”
Not altogether coincidentally, both chiefs, Jim Anglemier of Silverton and Mark Daniel of Mount Angel, are FBI Academy grads.
Engstrom hopes to eventually serve as a chief. One of the key aims of the FBI Academy is to prepare officers for leadership roles. Screening is intense: just 1 to 2% of applicants are admitted.
Engstrom’s father was a long-time chief in Arizona, as well as a 1982 FBI Academy participant. Todd was able to locate the yearbook from his father’s class during his Academy tour.
“I really like being a police officer,” he said, “and I really like wearing a uniform. I like it, and I like what it represents.”
Hall said the FBI Academy came at a perfect time for him.
“I’m happy that I got to experience the national academy while I am still in the first half of my career,” he said. “It was nice to push the reset button and come back with a whole new perspective. The whole experience for me is not the conclusion, but a whole new beginning.”
