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Meet Our Instructors

John Bassi

John Bassi

John Bassi is a 26-year veteran in Law Enforcement. He remains active in his field as a crime scene investigator for a Massachusetts major city police department. John was a Field Training Officer for several years before being promoted to the Detective Bureau. John has worked as a Crime Scene Investigator for over ten years, investigating major scenes including homicide, robberies ands sexual assaults.

John has attended numerous trainings in Basic and Advanced Fingerprint Processing, Classification and Comparison and is a fingerprint examiner. John also received extensive training at the National Forensic Science Training Center in Largo, FL in the areas of Basic and Intermediate Crime Scene Processing in addition to Biological Evidence Detection and Collection. John also has training in Crime Scene Photography, Evidence and Property Management and Death Scene Investigations. He is an Instructor for the Massachusetts Police Training Committee. John has also been a guest instructor at Berkshire Community College.

John holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from Western New England University and a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Boston University. He is also an active member of the International Association for Identification. In 2017, John was inducted into the Special Olympics Massachusetts Hall of Fame for his years of commitment to the organization. He represented Massachusetts in the 2013 World Winter Games Final Leg, running with the Flame of Hope for two weeks throughout South Korea before Opening Ceremonies.


Michael Maddalena

Michael Maddalena

Michael Maddalena is a 29 year veteran of a Massachusetts major city police department. He has worked and trained in several different capacities, gaining a wealth of knowledge across the law enforcement spectrum, in both the investigative and supervisory fields.

Michael is a member of his agencies Command Staff as a Detective Lieutenant responsible for night operations of the Detective Bureau and Narcotics Unit. He has prior work experience as a Detective, investigating major crimes. He gained tactical experience as an SRT (SWAT) member. He worked with community policing and outreach programs. Michael has instructor certifications with the Massachusetts Police Training Council, sharing his knowledge and experience with the next generation of police officers and supervisors.

Michael is active in his community, serving as the President and Vice President for two Boards of Directors for financial institutions. He has a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Boston University. Michael is passionate about his work here at JM Spartan Training LLC preparing organizations in emergency management and empowering our clients people.


JD Hebert

JD Hebert

JD Hebert has been in the emergency response field for over 25 years. He is a member of the Northwest Massachusetts Incident Management Team in which he holds several qualifications and has deployed to several large-scale events.

JD has an Associate’s Degree in Emergency and Disaster Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Relation form Rochester Institute of Technology. He is a Certified Advanced EMT and has experience training various courses that include Event Management, First Aid, CPR, Car Seat Safety, and Psychological First Aid.

JD has a very strong commitment to community service and volunteers countless hours to the following organizations. He serves on the Western MA Incident Management Team where he holds the position of Liaison Officer and Public Information Officer. He serves on the Critical Incident Stress Management for Western Massachusetts and served 14 years as Deputy Chief of Emergency Medical Services for Lanesborough Fire Department.


Richard Collins

Richard Collins

Richard Collins is a Licensed Mental Health Clinician who studied at Antioch New England Graduate School. He holds a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology. Richard has spent his career working within a crisis team helping thousands of people with mental health and co-occurring disorders. Over the past several years, Richard has worked with the Pittsfield Police Department as a LMHC Co-Responder. He has been invited to present at several organizations in his field to share his work experiences and successes.

Richard is an incredible asset to the JM Spartan Training team, presenting on De-Escalation and the Art of Communication. He assists with after action reviews and debriefs of critical incidents faced by our clients.

Mr Collins presently supervisors the City of Pittsfiled's Police/LMHC Co-Responder Program.


Ed Culver

Ed Culver

Detective Lieutenant Edward A. Culver, Mass. State Police (Ret.) is a 21 year law enforcement veteran who retired as the CO of the Berkshire Detective Unit attached to the DA’s office. Over the course of his career, he was foremost an investigator having served in assorted units and locations within the Division of Investigative Services. While assigned to the Berkshire SPDU for 10 plus years, he successfully investigated homicides, sexual assaults, kidnappings, public corruption, child abuse / child sexual assault, officer involved shootings and computer-based crimes. While commanding the unit, he ushered in assorted new and updated technological resources, personnel and specialized equipment enabling the unit to maintain a homicide solve rate well exceeding the national average. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from UMass-Amherst, a Master’s Degree (CJ) Westfield State University and is a 4 year veteran of the US Navy.

Ed is a professionally trained law enforcement polygraph examiner having been selected for the New England Polygraph Institute’s September, 2012 class. He was a member of the MSP Polygraph Unit where he successfully completed over 200 forensic law enforcement polygraph examinations for Federal, State and Local law enforcement partners. He was the CO of the MSP Polygraph Unit upon retiring, maintains assorted certifications and memberships and remains an active polygraph examiner for governmental and private clients.

He has lectured and taught on assorted disciplines to multiple organizations and agencies including: the New England Polygraph Institute, Mass. Association of Arson Investigators, Mass. Department of Children and Families (DCF), Berkshire Community College (OLLI Program), Int’l Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigator’s Association, Williams College Campus Safety Services and the Berkshire Sheriff’s Office. Since retiring, Ed has formed the Berkshire-based Culver Investigative Solutions, LLC. He specializes in providing licensed investigative and polygraph resources for a range of clients. He currently is contracted with the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office to assist sworn law enforcement investigators on unresolved homicides and with police requests for polygraph services and examinations. He is proud to have joined the Spartan Training Group team upon retirement, a training staff whom he has successfully served with during both real world criminal investigations and training settings.


Jeff Arena

Jeff Arena

Jeff Arena is a Detective Sergeant with the Pittsfield Police Department. He has displayed an ability to conduct in-depth, technologically advanced investigations involving cellular technologies, video surveillance and other sorts of computer forensics. Sgt Arena created and now supervises the Pittsfield Police Department's Digital Evidence Unit which he developed in 2022. Jeff is well versed in the world of technology with the culmination of his academic studies including computer programming and networking, along with a vast range of professional training including advanced cell phone investigations, social media investigations and criminal investigations using cellular technologies.

Along with his technological knowledge, Jeff has written and executed numerous search warrants for cellular telephones, cell phone location information, social media accounts, buildings and vehicles just to name a few. Jeff has displayed his ability to utilize his reporting writing skills coupled with his knowledge of computer technologies to investigate numerous homicides, sexual assaults, robberies, arsons and many other violent crimes.

Jeff received his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Computer Programming from Westfield State University and also holds a master’s degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Massachusetts – Lowell.


Ray Ferrin

Ray Ferrin has worked in the emergncy medical field for over 15 years. He serves as an Advanced EMT with instructor certifications to include:

Commonwealth of Massachusetts EMT Instructor Coordinator
American Heart Association BLS Instructor
Emergency Care Safety Institute Instructor
Stop the Bleed Instructor
Quick Clot Instructor

Has has served in leadership roles within several first responder medical agencies with certifications in Incident Command System (ICS) levels 100, 200, 300, 400, Enhanced Sports and Special Events Incident Management.


Jake Gaylord

Jake Gaylord