Stephen Vaughn

Stephen Vaughn is a native Floridian, born and raised in Tallahassee. He graduated from Tallahassee Community College and Florida State University before joining the Tallahassee Police Department in early 1991. He is a second generation Tallahassee Police Officer and is proud to serve the citizens of Tallahassee with strength, courage and honor.

Stephen Vaughn has been in law enforcement for the past 23 years with the Tallahassee Police Department. The past five years he has served as the Training Sergeant and the four years prior he was a Field Training Sergeant, leading an FTO squad. He has been assigned as a Patrol Officer, a Patrol Sergeant, as the Defensive Tactics Coordinator, a Field Training Officer, a Field Training Sergeant, and was a member of the Tactical Apprehension and Control Team for ten years. He has been a subject matter expert in the area of Defensive Tactics and the Field Training Officer Program for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Criminal Justice Standards and Training Committee and has assisted in the development of curriculum for Basic Recruit and Advanced Courses.

He was a member of the Steering Committee for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s High Liability Trainer’s Conference in 1995 and 1997. The FloridaPublic Safety Institute is now the host of this conference and it has been renamed The Instructor Training Seminar. Mr. Vaughn has been a presenter at this conference in 2012 and 2013. Since 2006 he has been training with Steven Jimerfield (Corporal, Alaska State Troopers, Ret.) and One On One Control Tactics (O3CT) and became the State Director for O3CT in 2010. In January 2014 he was promoted to Instructor Trainer, for this Arrest and Control System. He has assisted Mr. Jimerfield in presentations of One On One Control Tactics at the Instructor Training Seminar and at the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) Conference in 2012 and 2013.

​Mr. Vaughn has spent the majority of his law enforcement career as a trainer and a street cop. Since 1995 he has taught in the Tallahassee Police Department’s FTO program and in 1996 began to teach as an adjunct instructor at the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy and has continued since to teach Basic Recruit Curriculum as well as Advanced and Specialized Courses. Since 1997 he has taught Defensive Tactics and Firearms at the recruit and In-Service level and in 2002 became a Police Driving Instructor. The Tallahassee Police Department runs a 9 week In-House Academy for newly hired officers before they begin the Field Training program. During this In-House training new officers complete 60 hours of firearms training, 50 hours of Defensive Tactics training, and 50 hours of Emergency Vehicle Operations training. In addition there is Unknown Risk and High Risk Traffic Stop Training, Building Searches, Active Shooter, and Interactive Use of Force Decision Making.  As the Training Sergeant he is responsible for the content and implementation of the training. Since the beginning of the In-House Program he has been involved in the development of the curriculum as well as instruction.