Captain Spencer Fomby

Captain Spencer Fomby is the director of the Boise Police Department Training, Education, and Development Division. He was previously employed by the Berkeley Police Department for 20 years. He has held primary assignments in patrol, narcotics, and crime prevention. He was assigned to the department’s SWAT team for 16 years. He has been an entry team member, team leader, and tactical commander.

Captain Fomby is a certified use of force instructor. He is also a tactical instructor for the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA), where he teaches Police Counter Ambush, Advanced Response Police Officer (ARPO), and Policing Political Protests. Captain Fomby was the lead Berkeley Police Department public order instructor. He was responsible for equipment selection, tactical training, less-lethal weapon selection, chemical agent selection and deployment, and mission planning.

Captain Fomby has been recognized as a subject matter expert in police tactics and works on several national projects. He is assigned to a National Institute of Justice Special Technical Committee on crowd control equipment. He is an SME in crowd control equipment and tactics for DHS First Responder Resource Group. He is an SME in active shooter response for the International Association of Chiefs of Police Collaborative Reform Initiative Technical Assistance Center (CRI-TAC).

Captain Fomby was the 2011 Berkeley Police Department Officer of the Year.

He was the team leader of the 2014 Urban Shield SWAT Competition first place team. He is also a Visiting Fellow in Police Science at the University of Derby, U.K. Captain Fomby earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Administration of Justice from Howard University.