Training · Leadership · Service
Meet Our Instructors
Every course is taught by people who lived the work, with decades on the street and the case files to prove it.
Rich Rodriguez
Founder & Lead Instructor
Rich Rodriguez brings 40 years of service to Polished Badge. He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard at 17, where he also trained as a paramedic, then served 33 years in law enforcement across New York, Colorado, and Florida, from the NYPD Housing Police to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, where he serves today as a Special Agent. He spent 24 years in investigations working violent crimes, homicide, and sexual assault. He served as a Crisis Negotiations Team Leader and was elected President of the Fraternal Order of Police in Colorado. What sets Rich apart is empathy. He doesn't teach theory. He teaches what he lived.
Courses
- Til' the Job Do Us Part
- Introduction to Interviews & Interrogations
- Introduction to Crisis Negotiations
Patrick Ness
Instructor
Patrick Ness brings 40 years of law enforcement experience to Polished Badge. He retired from the New Mexico State Police after serving as a detective on the Major Case Unit, the Cold Case Homicide Unit, and the Albuquerque Metro Critical Incident Team, and he now serves as a Master Detective for the Commerce City Police Department in the Denver metro area. He has consulted on homicide cases for agencies across New Mexico and Colorado, including the FBI and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. At the time of his retirement, he was the lead instructor for Interviews and Interrogations at the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy. He holds advanced training in Crime Scene Reconstruction and Behavioral Analysis.
Courses
- Introduction to Crisis Negotiations
- Introduction to Interviews & Interrogations
- Officer-Involved Shooting Investigations
John Loges
Instructor
John E. Loges Jr. is the owner and lead instructor of JLoges Law Enforcement, Military, and Leadership Training and Consulting LLC. For more than 20 years, he has provided training, consulting, and expert instruction to law enforcement agencies, military organizations, attorneys, and criminal justice professionals across the United States and internationally. He draws on more than three decades of law enforcement service and over 39 years of military service, with operational roles as a Special Agent, SWAT Team Leader and Instructor, DEA and FBI Task Force Officer, and U.S. Army CID Special Agent, and nationally recognized expertise in criminal investigations, tactical operations, and leadership development.
Courses
- Case Preparation and Court Presentation Coming Soon
- Practical Crime Scene Applications and Evidence Recovery Coming Soon
- Leadership and Resiliency in Law Enforcement Coming Soon
Joseph Mercogliano
Instructor
Joseph Mercogliano brings more than 30 years in Florida law enforcement to Polished Badge. He served with the Plantation Police Department across patrol, traffic homicide investigation, SWAT medic, and field training, then led the department's Training Unit and spent eight years as its Police Academy Supervisor. A certified instructor at Broward College since 2003 and a Florida Department of Law Enforcement subject matter expert, he holds a master's degree in criminal justice and public administration.
Courses
- Officer-Involved Shootings
- Leadership and Resiliency in Law Enforcement
Steve Novak
Instructor
Steve Novak brings more than 30 years in law enforcement and 24 years in criminal investigations to Polished Badge. A U.S. Army veteran, he spent 15 years in the Fort Lauderdale Police Department Homicide Unit and now serves as a homicide and training detective with the Broward Sheriff's Office. He has worked more than 350 homicide investigations, led nearly 100 cases, and is a court-recognized expert in historical cellular record analysis.
Courses
- The Sound of Silence: Investigative Strategies for Witness-Reluctant Homicides