Mark D. Gilbert

For the second consecutive year, Lieutenant Mark Gilbert of the Martinsville Police Department will receive VCPI's Instructor of the Year Award. Lt. Gilbert has been in law enforcement for 15 years and is currently working for the Martinsville PD. VCPI bases the Instructor of the Year Award based on several criteria, including: presentation of many hours of instruction; development or assistance in the development of VCPI curriculum; and receipt of high evaluations from students.

In 2004, Lt. Gilbert taught 23 VCPI courses throughout the Commonwealth, providing 184 hours of instruction to 499 law enforcement professionals, meanwhile earning one of the institute's highest evaluation averages: 4.85 out of a possible 5. Handwritten comments submitted by course participants are equally outstanding and consistently positive. One former student says "Lt. Mark Gilbert is a great instructor. He was able to keep the attention of the class and present the information in a way that everyone was able to enjoy. He has a wealth of knowledge on the subject. I would take another class of Lt. Gilbert's." Others offer "Outstanding instructor in every way. One of the best I have ever seen," and, "This instructor was the most knowledgeable instructor I have experienced in my 16 years."

In addition to his outstanding presentation style and content, Mark has also used his experience and skill to assist VCPI in curriculum development for both the Advanced Search & Seizure and Biased-Based Policing courses.

Since becoming an instructor with VCPI in 2002, Lt. Gilbert has assisted the institute tremendously in advancing community policing in Virginia. He teaches many of VCPI's most popular courses, including Advanced Search and Seizure, Bias-Based Policing, History and Principles of Community Policing, Partnerships in Community Policing, Prevention and Enforcement Strategies and Tactics and Problem Solving.

In 2004, VCPI conducted 100 courses, training 2,958 law enforcement and community members. While we have talented instructors on staff, we simply could not have accomplished this on our own. Thanks to the cadre of almost 90 law enforcement professionals on whom we rely heavily to instruct, VCPI is able to fulfill its mission of providing informative and relevant training throughout the Commonwealth.