INSTRUCTORS

Chris Vance

Chris has served as a law enforcement officer with the Gaithersburg Police Department since 1997. In 2015, he was promoted to Lieutenant, where he served as the Administrative Bureau Commander for several years; he is currently the Operations Bureau Commander. In addition to overseeing the department's patrol operations, he also manages the response to resistance/aggression processes. During his career, Chris has served in all three bureaus of the department in uniformed and plainclothes capacities.

Chris has been a department instructor since 2006 and has been a certified firearms, ECD, and leadership instructor, as well as an FTO. Additionally, he has taught various topics to include use of force, body-camera policy and procedures, de-escalation techniques and tactics, and implicit bias,. He is also certified in Force Science. Chris has served as an adjunct instructor at Montgomery College and University of Baltimore.

Chris earned his Bachelor of Science in Justice Studies from Georgia Southern University in 1997, and he earned his Master of Science in Executive Leadership and Management from Johns Hopkins University in 2010, where he was part of the Police Executive Leadership Program. He also completed the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) Senior Management Institute for Police in 2022.