Brian Tison
Brian Tison was a sworn police officer for over 29 years, retiring in March 2020. Serving with both the Vermilion County Sheriff’s Department (1991-96) and the University of Illinois Police Department (1996-2020), he is now the president and primary trainer of Shield and Star Training Inc. Brian was an active CIT Officer and Coordinator for the CrisisIntervention Program for UIPD before his retirement. He served as the Hostage Negotiation Team Leader for the Champaign County METRO/SWAT Team and is still the Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Illinois Crisis Negotiators Association, as well as holding a seat on the National Council for Negotiation Associations. He is certified by the FBI through their 40-hour hostage negotiations training course. Brian teaches
the police response portion of the 40- hour Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) course statewide and served as the CIT Task Force representative for the University of Illinois. He was the first officer in Illinois to be trained as a CIT instructor and teaches extensively for Mobile Training Units in Illinois, most recently “Mental Health Intervention and De- Escalation”. Brian is published in the “Law Enforcement Executive Forum” and in 2006, he was named CIT Officer of the Year for the State of Illinois.