Lt. Pete Hicks completing the Yellow Brick Road FBI Academy physical challenge.

Moody Lieutenant Pete Hicks graduated from the FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA on Dec. 16. The program was a 10-week educational and fitness course. 

Hicks has served in law enforcement for 19 years. He began his career in 2002 in the city of Homewood as a correctional officer. He is currently over investigations at the Moody Police Department. 

“I’ve been aware of the FBI National Academy since I started, I would go into chief and captain’s offices and see these yellow bricks you get for running the obstacle course at the end called the Yellow Brick Road,” said Hicks.

He went into the program to begin the progression of his career, with hopes to eventually move up in the police leadership system. 

“I always been a believer of if you’re not moving forward, you’re falling behind,” said Hicks “To advance my career I needed to do more than just being there, I needed to bring something unique to the table. By going to that course, it equips me better to provide services to the city.”

The program consisted of physical training and college courses provided by the University of Virginia. Hicks took 17 credit hours of classes such as leadership, public speaking, national security and crisis negotiation.

He described the experience as quite difficult because he’s also currently working on getting a bachelor’s degree in homeland security and public safety, which he’s set to complete in April 

His interest in the program was sparked by the amount of chiefs and other leaders who had a yellow brick in their office, signifying they had completed the toughest physical training and obstacle course of the program. 

“To be able run that obstacle course and complete it, and earn that brick to take back to my office is a reward in itself,” said Hicks “It’s something real to remind it’s real and achieved.”

Hicks said the physical training was “far above” what he received in the military. 

To be considered for the program an applicant must be nominated by a chief or sheriff, and then the FBI reviews the application, with an average wait of 2-3 years. 

“It’s a hard course to get into, during the graduation they said 1% of top law enforcement executives get to go through it,” said Hicks. 

Networking is another benefit of the program. He can now contact people in law enforcement from all over the country. 

“You’re meeting people from everywhere, captains from NYPD to Texas rangers. It was a lot of learning what they do, it’s a wide variety of opinions from all over the country and the world,” said Hicks. 

It gave him a different way of looking at things and ideas of programs that other agencies have tried to benefit his own community.

“The ability to get assistance anywhere in the country, and even a couple places in the world, with a phone call now is incredible. Before if I had a case where my suspect may have been an online fraud case in New York, now I can call two different captains that are investigators up there,” said Hicks.

He also appreciated the chief and city council allowing him to be gone for 11 weeks. 

“Chief hunt was pretty supportive getting me into the course and making sure everything was covered and there was no extra work stress while I was there,” said Hicks.

He’s most thankful to his wife, Sarah, who was understanding and helped him be able to leave for the 11 weeks. She stayed home and took care of their two dogs and cats. 

Now that he’s home, he said he’s excited to begin applying his new perspectives to improve the community and police force relationship. 

“I’m big into the concept of community policing, I like to see how other agencies involve their communities in their police activities. I got a lot of really useful ideas that I’d like to implement down here,” said Hicks.