Law Enforcement Family Support Trainer and Consultant Biographies

Susan Dion, M.Ed, is an independent consultant and trainer. A licensed teacher, Sue spent eleven years in the K-12 systems of five different states and eleven years in higher education, teaching, managing and developing grant funded programs and initiatives. Her work in higher education included; systems change, designing and implementing professional development initiatives including Mentoring, Consultation and Reflective Supervision, writing and training curriculum, and pioneering work developing web based resources and online training.

Sue’s main areas of interest are department mentoring initiatives, designing law enforcement family education and resources, and collaborative work designed to increase law enforcement family preparedness and support. Sue is currently an independent contractor, with a broad range of clients. Her spouse is a sworn officer and is CDR, U.S. Navy, (Ret)

Richard Peterson is a twenty-nine year veteran in law enforcement, spending the last 25 years employed at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Stillwater, Minnesota.  As a member of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Richard was assigned to virtually every division, his most notable assignments were that of, being assigned as a K-9 handler for twelve years.  Richard and his K-9 partner were the first SWAT team members that integrated patrol dog services on to the entry team. 
Richard uses his personal story to train on the topic of police suicide. The training includes the causes of suicide, and most importantly suicide prevention information.  It also prepares police officers for the grim task of responding to suicide calls and also gives pertinent information to working police officers on how to deal with suicide survivors after such a tragedy.

LeAnne Renteria, MA, CFLE, is a third generation police officer. She is a sworn officer as well as the spouse of a police officer. She has over ten years of law enforcement experience including working as a field training officer and investigator. LeAnne has a BA and MA (Fall 2009) in Family Life Education. She is a nationally Certified Family Life Educator. Her main areas of interest include managing work-related stress, family resiliency, parent education, and emotional health.

Jessica Schlieman is a thirteen year veteran officer for the St. Cloud Police Department.  She currently is assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division.  Jessica also is a defensive tactics instructor, Simunitions instructor and former Field Training Officer for St. Cloud.  She has been involved in developing policy for critical incidents and officer involved shootings for her department.  In 2009 Jessica developed and coordinated the first St. Cloud Metro Law Enforcement Family Academy.  She also is the spouse of a law enforcement officer.