Federal Agency Hired Training Firm Run by Officer With History of Lethal Force Incidents

David S. Norman, a former Phoenix police officer involved in at least four shootings that killed people during his career, started a training company in 2020. That company, called TruKinetics LLC, was then hired by the Department of Homeland Security to train its Special Response Teams — the agency's tactical units that handle high-risk operations.

The contract was worth $27,748 and required Norman's firm to teach a 40-hour training course to DHS agents at Fort Benning in Georgia, according to reporting by WIRED.

Norman worked as a Phoenix police officer from the late 1990s until he retired in 2020. In a 2021 legal deposition, he testified that he had been involved in at least four lethal shootings. During that same deposition, Norman used explicit language to describe himself, calling himself "a fucking savage" — language that has drawn attention given his later role training federal agents.

What the Training Covered

Norman's company trained Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and also worked with Arizona's Homeland Security Investigations Special Response Team. The training took place in Arizona and at Fort Benning in Georgia.

Special Response Teams are units deployed by federal agencies for what they call enforcement operations. Civil rights critics describe these deployments as heavily armed police actions in communities. These teams have been involved in confrontations with protesters during federal operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis.

Why This Matters

The contract itself was small in government terms, but it raises questions about how federal agencies check the backgrounds of people hired to train agents who may use deadly force. When federal agencies look for trainers, they often prefer people with real experience in dangerous situations. The thinking is that officers who have been through lethal force incidents can better prepare others for the same kind of scenario.

This preference for experienced instructors has been a pattern in federal law enforcement for decades. After the 9/11 attacks, federal agencies expanded rapidly and tended to prioritize speed over thorough background checks, especially for smaller contracts that didn't trigger extra scrutiny.

The Phoenix Police Background

Norman's time as a Phoenix police officer involved several controversial incidents. One involved the death of 19-year-old Jacob Harris, whose family sued the city of Phoenix for millions of dollars. The family's lawyer, Steve Benedetto, says that a Phoenix police officer lied to a grand jury about the shooting. According to the lawsuit, Harris was shot in the back.

Jacob's father, Roland Harris, has spoken publicly about his son's death and the police investigation that followed. The family's case argues that excessive force was used.

A Broader Pattern Worth Watching

The TruKinetics contract illustrates something that happens regularly in federal law enforcement: the government hires retired local police officers to start private training companies. These officers then teach federal agents. This pipeline from local police to federal training roles happens with little outside oversight of the instructors' backgrounds or teaching methods.

DHS Special Response Teams operate with considerable independence and often deploy in cities where their actions draw public attention and criticism. The teams receive training that emphasizes tactical skills, but the process for selecting instructors remains unclear to the public.

TruKinetics was a one-person operation — Norman was the founder and did the teaching himself. This setup is common in specialized consulting but means that one person's experience and approach shaped the entire training program. That person's record included multiple lethal force incidents.

The Bigger Picture

Federal law enforcement agencies are under increasing scrutiny for how they train officers and handle the use of force. The deployment of heavily equipped federal teams in cities has raised concerns among civil rights groups across multiple presidential administrations.

The $27,748 amount reflects what specialized tactical training typically costs. Because there are not many qualified instructors with this kind of background, those who offer the training can charge premium rates.

The Norman case illustrates a tension that federal agencies will likely face as they build and expand specialized units: how to bring in experienced practitioners while still maintaining strong oversight and accountability standards.