A museum tour was not what Lucas County sheriff's Lt. Don Atkinson had in mind when he arrived for training at the FBI National Academy this spring.

Lieutenant Atkinson, a 24-year-veteran of the sheriff's office, said the permanent exhibition at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington - divided into three parts called “Nazi Assault,” Final Solution,” and “Last Chapter” - taught him an important lesson in law enforcement.

“It showed me what can happen when police ally themselves with the forces of evil. I saw how a government can misuse police,” he said, warming to the subject.

“The process can start gradually, with police being told it's OK to humiliate certain groups. Then it progresses to police committing legalized murder,” Lieutenant Atkinson explained.

“It drove home an important point: As much as police would like to have unlimited ability to get law breakers - or people they think are law breakers - this is where it can lead. Our rights exist for a good reason.”

Lieutenant Atkinson and dozens of area police officers are among the more than 30,000 lawmen to graduate from the FBI National Academy since it began operation in 1935.

The academy, which is in Quantico, Va., is a sort of graduate school for police, offering advanced training to police officers from across the country and around the world.

The 535-acre campus, which contains 1 million square feet of indoor space, is where the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration train their agents. Part of the 1991 Academy Award–winning movie The Silence of the Lambs was filmed there. Best-selling novelist Patricia Cornwell has used it repeatedly as a setting for her Kay Scarpetta thrillers.

The training and room and board are free for police officers in the National Academy program. The FBI even picks up transportation costs, unless the officer comes from overseas.

The 10-week program concentrates heavily on the latest in such mainstays of police work as crime-scene investigation, interrogations, and media relations, but it also aims to “get inside the heads of police officers. We want them to think a little differently,” academy spokesman Kurt Crawford said.

Hence the museum tour.

With 270 members per class, there is plenty of opportunity to network and make friends with colleagues from far afield.

“For me it was an education that I probably couldn't have received anywhere else,” said Toledo police Chief Mike Navarre, a 1990 graduate. “My roommate was from Thailand, and it was a wonderful experience to be able to live with him for 10 weeks and learn the cultural differences between his country and the United States.”

Bowling Green police Maj. Gary Spencer, a 1998 graduate, roomed with an officer from Brazil. “I was exposed to hundreds of other police officers, not just from this country but from overseas. It was very interesting. I'd do it all over again.”

Maumee police Chief Bob Zink, a December graduate, recalls that his class included students from 23 countries, including Japan, China, Brazil, and Australia. “You leave your family behind and you're all alone, so you build relationships with your professional colleagues that you probably wouldn't build in another environment.”

And the professional contacts don't necessarily die when the program ends.

Perrysburg police Chief Nelson Evans, a 1997 graduate, and Rick Gilts, one of his lieutenants, who graduated in 1999, say they've stayed in touch with instructors and classmates. Chief Evans said he has consulted with an instructor about starting a program to help parents deal with their kids.

Defiance assistant police Chief Tim Tobias, who graduated in 1997, became fast friends with a classmate who was a Jackson, Mich., police officer.

Today the friend is chief of police in Manistee, Mich., and “We still get together every year,” Chief Tobias said.

Chief Navarre said he too has had occasion to contact former classmates. “There have been times when I needed to call other departments to see how they're doing things. I go to my directory, look up someone from my class, and talk to them.”

First Published August 27, 2001, 11:05 a.m.