Rob Bowen

 From Pro Athlete to Tactical Athlete...

Rob started his baseball career back in 1999 when he was drafted in the 2nd round of the MLB draft by the Minnesota Twins (56th overall pick), turning down a scholarship to play at Louisiana State University. After playing a few years in the minor leagues, he was called up to Minnesota in 2003 at the age of 22. Rob spent parts of 5 seasons in the Major Leagues with the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, and the Oakland Athletics. During his Major League career, Rob also reached the playoffs with the San Diego Padres in 2006. Playing at the most elite level, including the playoffs, has given him the ability to understand what it is like being under an enormous amount of pressure and stress and still finding a way to keep calm and produce. 

After spending 10 years in Professional Baseball and retiring in 2009, Rob started his second passion, Law Enforcement, in 2010 by graduating from the Georgia Public Safety Training Center (GPSTC). Through his hard work and dedication, Rob won the following awards:

- Top Gun Award (Best Shooter)
- Academic Achievement Award (97.19%) (1st in Class)
- Overall Achievement Award (Best All-Around Cadet) 

Since 2010, Rob has worked for a Metro Atlanta County Police Agency (Awarded Rookie Officer of the Year, 2010) and two South Georgia Sheriff Offices, where he is still actively employed by one of those (Part-time status). He was worked canines in the disciplines of patrol, tracking, drug and bomb detection for over 10 years. In addition to working canines, Rob has served on a Special Response Team for over 5 years (also assisted with updating and writing SOP's for the team). Rob has always sought out to attend courses from top-level instructors in their field. Rob had the opportunity to take one of his SWAT courses from a former Tier-One Military Special Operations Instructor. The bulk of Rob's Law Enforcment career has been working the interstate conducting highway enforcement and interdiction along with being attached to Special Response teams. As a canine instructor, Rob helped in assisting with teaching the K9 handler courses at his present Sheriff's Office where they host 2 courses a year (Approximately 7-15 dogs per course). Along with helping during the course, Rob developed, taught and maintained the PowerPoint on the Utilization of a K9 during a Traffic Stop for the classes.

While working as a Law Enforcement Officer, Rob worked for Groundwork, a transportation-based security company and sister company to Savoya, one of the largest chauffeur companies in the world. During his time there, Rob was in charge of the Atlanta-area where he was responsible for safely driving C-Level executives, athletes and government officials, one of those being one of the top GOP officials. Along with working in the Atlanta market, Rob would fly to other cities for conducting advance work for major events, one of those being the NBA All-Star game in New Orleans during Mardis Gras. Rob also spent a short time with assisting the opening of the Holiday Inn & Suites Atlanta Airport North, where he wrote the Emergency Operations Plan, interviewed and hired over 30 employees for the security division and the restaurant/bar. 

In addition to Law Enforcment, Rob has experience in the contracting world. Starting in December of 2021, Rob accepted a position as a contractor for the Department of Defense located in the Marshall Islands where he assumed the role of Kennel Master after a few short weeks being on contract. Rob was responsible for the creation of the K9 Operations Standard Operating Procedures, along with all necessary forms to track all K9 related data. As the Kennel Master, he was responsible for overseeing work schedules and training of all handlers and canines (2 Drug & 2 EOD dogs) while on contract and scheduling of all appropriate certifications to keep in line with AR 190-12 and the Army PWS. Rob had to develop a training curriculum and course to satisfy the Army's PWS and AR 190-12 for new handlers given the extreme location and circumstances of USAG-KA. After developing the K9 handler's course for the company he worked for, Rob took a brand-new handler who never worked a dog before, and successfully passed the Department of the Army's K9 Certification on the first attempt (the most difficult K9 certification in the military) in less than 5 weeks from beginning his training. During his tenure, Rob also had to maintain his handler status and successfully passed the Army's certification multiple times. 

After being based in the remote island of Kwajalein for just about 2 years, Rob accepted a K9 position in Erbil, Iraq working for the Department of State on a Worldwide Protective Services contract (WPS lll). He graduated from the WPS lll Guard Course having qualified on the following weapon systems: Glock 19, MK18, M240 machine gun, and the M249 machine gun. Along with those, also conducted FAMs on the M203 grenade launcher, AK-47 (full-auto) and Stinger rubber ball grenades. After completing the 130-hour course in Amman, Jordan, Rob attended the 2-week K9 handler course at the Diplomatic Security Global Canine Services Center (GCSC). After pairing with his new canine partner, he certified through another national K9 certification. Currently, Rob is still employed and works rotations out in Erbil, Iraq at the United States Consulate.

Rob's extensive and diverse background working canines from multiple vendors and methodologies gives him a very unique perspective on what works and doesn't work in the real world, not just a training environment. Rob has had canine training from some of the most respected vendors and facilities in the country along with successfully certifying in the following different organizations: National Police Canine Association in narcotics (NPCA), National Narcotic Detector Dog Association in patrol, tracking, narcotics, and EOD (NNDDA), PSP in narcotics and patrol, Department of the Army K9 Certification in narcotics, and the Diplomatic Security Odor Recognition Test in EOD.

Through his time, classes, and experiences in the Law Enforcement and Security sectors, Rob has attained sufficient knowledge levels in the following specialties (Also has over 2,660 hours of documented training hours through a multitude of courses on his Georgia P.O.S.T. Fact Sheet that is available upon request):

- Standard Field Sobriety Testing (SFST's)
- Taser ECD
- Search & Seizure
- Lidar and Radar
- Georgia Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)
- First Aid/CPR/AED
- K9 Operations/Instructor
- SWAT Operator
- Criminal Interdiction
- Executive Protection / Security Driver
- Force Protection
- Site Security Operations
- ALERRT Level l
- ALERRT External Response to Active Shooter Events (ERASE) Instructor

Rob has held a Secret Security Clearance with the Department of Defense and currently holds an active Secret Security Clearance with the Department of State.