Bernardston, MA 413-648-4343

About First Circle Safety

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Founder and owner John Richardson is a 20+ year Law Enforcement professional who is currently a uniformed patrol sergeant in a small rural community in Franklin County, MA

  • A Massachusetts police academy firearms instructor certified in pistol, patrol rifle (carbine), and shotgun, John is also a certified instructor by TASER (X26, X26P, X2, 7), and the NRA in Home Firearm Safety, Basic Pistol, Refuse to be a Victim and other courses.
  • A certified instructor for the national Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) for police officers training to respond to active shooter events, he has taught dozens of officers from many department in responding to these high risk calls in ultra realistic ‘force on force’ scenario training.
  • Certified to teach Fire/EMS in ASHER (Active Shooter Hostile Event Response), required by MA to certify all ambulance personnel; similiarly, certifed as a CRASE (Citizen Response to Active Shooter Events) by ALERRT to teach non-first repsonders of all types
  • Committed to all aspects of personal & family safety, he is a Stop the Bleed Instructor and Ambassador - offering classes to diverse groups from police & firefighters to school teachers, bank employees and highway departments as well as the general public.
  • He has also been certified by the Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Council (MPTC) and taught many classes for veteran police officers in diverse areas including annual Legal Updates, Domestic Violence, Juvenile Law and others.

For 15+ years John has utilized advanced training in security practices to evaluate homes and small businesses for security vulnerabilities, compiling useful plans to address concerns. Professionally trained and certified in CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design), which brings a "whole system" approach to security. Wholly committed to training from a coach model, he is often tapped to assist in Applied Police Procedure (scenario based police training) at the academy level. Other skills include Glock Armorer, sexual assault investigator, & former drug/gang Task Force Member.

A long term member of the county wide High Risk Domestic Violence Task Force and vocal advocate of community based policing, John brings a realistic and functional knowledge of reasonable concerns and potential crimes to a field often dominated by training focused on lots of shooting and not much thinking. As committed to learning as teaching, he is currently in the certification process to pass the Physical Security Professional exam through ASIS, International. While lesson plans from state and national programs are used in courses as required, John also writes his own training programs.