Joel Schmid serves as a Lieutenant for a mid-sized agency in California.  Assigned as a Watch Commander, Lieutenant Schmid is also responsible for managing the Department’s Crisis Response Unit in a collateral capacity.  The Crisis Response Unit is composed of the Department’s SWAT, CNT, and UAS teams who operate in conjunction with the local inter-agency Bomb Squad.  Lt. Schmid currently serves in the capacity of the Tactical Commander for the City's SWAT team of which he has been a member since 2014. 

Lieutenant Schmid graduated Point Loma Nazarene University in 2003 with a B.A. in Psychology and currently instructs firearms and use of force related courses at the Department and a regional police academy.  During his career Lieutenant Schmid has spent time as a Patrol Officer, Field Training Officer, Detective, Task Force Member and Patrol and Training Sergeant.