40 Basic Hostage Negotiator Course

This 40 Hour Basic Hostage Negotiator Course is being taught by Dennis Flynn and will run Monday-Friday (8AM-5PM). You must attend the entire course in order to receive your certificate of completion. This course is only open to current members of Colorado law enforcement.

Dennis Flynn served with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, (LVMPD), for over 30 years, retiring in the Fall of 2015 as a Lieutenant assigned to the Robbery Section and also as the Team Leader of their Crisis Negotiation Team.

In addition to commanding the Robbery Section, which consisted of five investigative squads including a joint federal bank robbery squad, Dennis previously served as the supervisor of the Narcotics Section, Gang Unit, Problem Solving Unit, and as the Swing Shift Commander of the Las Vegas Strip. Prior to his promotion, he also worked as an undercover detective in both the Vice and Narcotics sections as well as serving as a field training officer. He has been an instructor in the Police Academy for over 15 years, teaching to nearly 3,000 recruits as well as instructing to new detectives on the topics of Interview and Interrogation, Preliminary Investigations, Narcotics, and Crisis Negotiations.

Dennis was a member of the agency’s Crisis Negotiation Team for 18 years, serving 10 of those years as their Team Leader. During his tenure, he has responded to over 1,000 barricaded, suicidal, and hostage incidents. He has received two Unit Medal of Valors, and three Unit Meritorious Service Awards for his work as a negotiator including the resolution of a suicidal subject from the top of the Stratosphere Hotel and four separate hostage incidents.

During his time as a negotiator, Dennis taught in numerous crisis negotiation schools, for his own agency, others in Southern Nevada, and for the Las Vegas office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crisis Negotiation Course in Quantico, Virginia and had the honor of presenting incident debriefs to their school. He has also provided crisis negotiation training to several other law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and served as a guest speaker for the California Association of Hostage Negotiators, National Tactical Officer Association, Baltimore Hostage Negotiation Seminar, Calgary Canada Hostage Negotiation Seminar, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation – Chicago. Dennis’s work has been published in the National Tactical Officer Association’s magazine, The Tactical Edge.

Dennis holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Oklahoma University and a Master of Science from San Diego University.

After his retirement from LVMPD, Dennis authored a book, detailing his experiences as a crisis negotiator, titled Held Hostage: Negotiating Life and Death for the Las Vegas Police Department. The book chronicles hostage/suicidal incidents, providing details of the incident, how they were handled, and an honest assessment on lessons learned, (with photographs included).

In April 2018, Dennis returned to policing and was hired as a Commander with the Commerce City Police Department in Colorado. He currently serves as the Commander over the Investigations section. He is also the team leader for the Crisis Negotiation Team and oversees the agency’s Peer Support team. Additionally, he remains an instructor with Crisis Systems Management, a company which teaches hostage/crisis negotiations throughout the United States