Veteran police officer, investigator, and trainer Jeffrey Minten has been named deputy director for the Atlantic Police Academy, executive director Forrest Spencer announced today.

Minten has more than 20 years of experience in the public safety field. He started his career with the Edmonton Police Service in 1997. During his 10 years there, he served with the community policing and foot patrol unit and the officer safety and training unit, and became a qualified expert in police use of force tactics for criminal court cases.

In 2007, he joined Ontario’s Office of the Fire Marshal. He spent four years as a forensic investigator examining the origins and causes of fires and explosions and was involved in incident management for over 200 multi-agency investigations. In 2012, Minten led a team of investigators, and monitored and supported investigations into cases across Ontario. In 2015, he redesigned the training curriculum for new fire investigators and designed and delivered an advanced fire and explosion investigation program. Minten has trained thousands of police officers, fire fighters, and fire investigators over the years, and, as an expert in the origins and causes of fires and explosions, he has assisted agencies and testified in criminal trials across Canada.

In 2017, he joined the Ontario Provincial Police as a training development and evaluation specialist. He audited, updated and validated numerous courses, including provincially accredited courses for the Criminal Investigations and Emergency Response Team. He has lectured on behavioural dynamics, critical thinking for investigators, and incident response (incident command), and liaised with senior management to identify and develop integrated succession management strategies.

Executive director Spencer said that Jeffrey Minten’s expertise in policing, firefighting, and investigations will be invaluable as the academy.

“Jeffrey’s knowledge is both broad and deep, and we are very pleased to welcome him to the Atlantic Police Academy as part of our leadership team. I know that he will be a great asset to us,” he said.

Minten, who has moved to Prince Edward Island with his wife and daughters, said he is looking forward to this new stage in his career.

“I’m excited to see how I can support Holland College and the Atlantic Police Academy,” he said.

The APA has been training public safety professionals since 1971. The academy currently offers five full-time programs: Basic Firefighting, Conservation Enforcement, Correctional Officer, Police Science (Cadet), and Sheriff and Public Safety Officer, as well as delivering in-service training and special courses for new and seasoned public safety professionals.