ASU Police Cmdr. William Orr joined the ranks of 27,000 other officers recently by completing a highly competitive FBI training program last month catered to local and federal law enforcement officials.
Orr attended the 10-week course at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va., from January to March, achieving a career goal that he had always strived for.
The program does not make trainees FBI agents, but instead gives them an education on better policing techniques. During the course, the trainees attend an eight-hour class each weekday along with a few seminars and fitness classes.
Assistant Chief of Police Jay Spradling said the department is fortunate to have several graduates from the academy as members of the command staff.
“It is Chief [John] Pickens’ goal to eventually get those that have not gone yet to go,” Spradling said.
Promoted to commander in 2008, Orr is the fifth member of ASU Police to complete training with the FBI.
Officers typically have to wait four to five years until they are accepted into the program. Others have to wait up to nine years and only 1 percent of those who apply are selected.
Orr said the number of officers selected is so low because officers can only apply after being on the force for 19 years and they must meet certain mental and physical requirements. After being on the force for at least 19 years, many officers don’t meet the requirements.
But Orr had the fortune to begin training only a year and a half after applying to the program.
His desire to become a police officer began after working in a prison for a few years and wanting to try something different.
Growing up just down the street in Mesa, Orr decided to apply to be an officer at ASU, got hired and has now been here for 20 years.
Orr said he enjoys being a police officer because it’s ever changing and it allows him to make a difference in the community.
“It’s never the same and you make a difference in people’s lives every day,” he said. “It’s nice to be the solution to the problems in the community.”
Currently stationed as the commander on the Polytechnic campus, Orr said he has never left ASU because it’s so diverse.
“There are so many different types of crimes, you never know what’s going to happen next,” he said.
Orr said most of the training at the FBI academy is geared toward management of law enforcement and promoting consistency of policing across the U.S.
By working with people on each coast, Orr said it’s easier to share information about which policing techniques have worked and which haven’t. This information will improve officers’ knowledge of how to deal with certain things in their area of work.
“As a result [of Orr’s training], his enhanced leadership abilities, communication skills and networking capabilities will assist the team in providing professional law enforcement services through best practices and deal with the many challenges during these times,” Pickens said in an email.
Within the ASU Police, Orr is the head of the Firearms Department, and he handles training all other officers on how to use rifles, handguns, shotguns and Tasers.
The Firearms Department won the first ever Team Award at Monday’s ASU Police Awards Ceremony for going above and beyond what is expected of them.
Reach the reporter at danielle.legler@asu.edu
