Derek served as an Electro-Mechanical Technician on the Minuteman III ICBMs in the United States Air Force before going into law enforcement.

Derek served as a Detentions Deputy, Court Security Deputy, Patrol Deputy, Undercover Narcotics Detective, Patrol Officer, Street Crimes Detective, Field Training Operator, SWAT Operator, K-9 Handler, Detective, and as a sworn Special Deputy US Marshall attached to an FBI lead joint coalition targeting organized crime and human trafficking.

Derek medically retired as a Master Police Officer in 2019 with over 22 years of diverse street and tactical focused experience. Derek now focuses on officer survival and mental health by training and equipping our nation's law enforcement officers full time using both his experience on the street along with his experience battling frontline trauma and PTSD.

Derek has been teaching his hit O.O.D.A. Loop based Officer Survival seminars to law enforcement officers across the country since 2012, Emergency Casualty Care for law enforcement courses since 2015, Rising Above Frontline Trauma since 2022.

Derek is a published author with his articles on officer survival and training published in Police Magazine and Tactical Solutions Magazine.