It’s better to be a warrior in the garden, rather than a gardener in the war.
This community education series is designed to inform the public, place of worship security personnel, business leaders and school officials the importance of personal safety and facility security in today’s unpredictable world. The program will help attendees build awareness in recognizing and dealing with active shooter situations in public events, places of worship and school functions. Taught by two dynamic instructors who have years of experience in critical incident preparedness and response, our special education series is designed to increase awareness and improve your own personal security.
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Your Instructors
Heath Tester
Heath Tester is a retired Lieutenant from the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office. Heath attended the University of Akron for Criminal Justice/Political Science. After completing the Police Academy, he began his law enforcement career in the Ottawa County area in 1994.
In 1996 Tester started with the Lorain County Sheriff’s office as a Deputy Sheriff assigned to the Road Patrol Division. In 1998 he became a certified Field Training Officer. Lt. Tester is also a certified O.P.O.T.A instructor, a defensive tactics instructor and a straight handle baton instructor.
Since 2001 Lt. Tester has been a member of the Lorain County SWAT team, where he retired as the Tactical Commander of the multi-jurisdictional team. After the horrific events of the Columbine massacre and the upswing of school violence, Lt. Tester worked continuously with county schools, businesses and places of worship to prepare and stop the violence.
After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1965, Jim Larkin became a naval aviator from 1966 to 1977. He flew the A7 Corsair light attack aircraft in Vietnam where he learned the lessons of surviving in life-threatening penetration of enemy defenses. Based on his experiences in Vietnam, he became the primary instructor in the Light Attack Weapons School (Pacific) preparing A7 pilots to survive in hostile engagements.
Jim joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation and served as an agent from 1977 to 2002. He was a firearms, defensive tactics and street survival instructor for the FBI. Larkin was leader of the Cleveland FBI Swat Team from 1989 to 2002. He was responsible for preparing the 25 man SWAT team to function in life-threatening encounters. Following the Columbine School shooting in 1999, he was tasked with developing FBI tactics for active shooter encounters.
Larkin was a member of the Lorain County Drug Task Force from 2002 to 2021. During this time, he assisted with training the Lorain County SWAT team and other Lorain County law enforcement personnel with active shooter encounters. Jim Larkin and Heath Tester have given extensive active shooter training during this period to Lorain County schools, businesses, county offices and church groups.
Based on his extensive, Jim specializes in training individuals to mentally prepare to survive a violent encounter,
Jim Larkin
Scheduled Events
March 17th | 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church
9457 Baumhart Road
Amherst, Ohio