Shawn has served as a law enforcement officer in Maryland since 1997. He is currently assigned as the Operations Bureau Commander with the Gaithersburg Police Department in Maryland, having previously supervised the Special Operations Bureau. He has worked in patrol, investigations, and in plainclothes operations. He is a graduate of the both the Police Executive Research Forum’s Senior Management Institute for Police (2022) and Leadership in Police Organizations training program (2016). He manages the cadet program and the hiring process for the Gaithersburg Police Department and has conducted and supervised hundreds of background investigations over his career.
Shawn is a certified firearms and physical fitness instructor, is certified in Force Science, and possesses an advanced certification in Voice Stress Analysis. He has served as an adjunct professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland and Montgomery College since 2006. He was awarded the Kendall Service Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2014 and in 2020.
Shawn earned his Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and Political Science from Frostburg State University (MD) in 1995. He earned his Master of Arts degree in Human Sciences from Hood College (MD) in 2005.
