© SCHOOL VIOLENCE SOLUTIONS 2007, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
SVS STAFF
Allan Garcia - President & CEO / Primary Instructor

Sergeant Allan Garcia has been a Middletown, Rhode Island police officer since 1988. From 1984-88, he served as a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division.  Since 2003, he has been a certified instructor in active shooter / school violence tactics. While serving as a lead adjunct instructor for a world renowned tactical training company, Sgt. Garcia was in charge of nationwide instruction to hundreds of law enforcement personnel and school employees in how to recognize, react to, and prevent school shootings.  Appointed as a principal member of a Governor’s statewide school emergency planning committee, he formulated, designed, and implemented training for educators throughout his entire home state.  He has taught and advised many local and state police agencies in active shooter / school violence techniques and is recognized as an expert in these respective areas.

Sgt. Garcia has attained an enormous amount of specialized training throughout his military and law enforcement careers.  In particular, he received instruction on first responder actions at bombing scenes taught by members of the Israeli Special Forces, and multiple terrorist school-siege doctrine taught by individuals who were the only westerners allowed to investigate the Beslan (Russia) school massacre in 2004.

Sgt. Garcia has seen service as a detective assigned to his police department’s criminal investigations division, and as both a uniformed patrol officer and a uniformed shift supervisor.  He served for 14 years on departmental and regionalized SWAT teams and is a veteran of several incidents involving armed suspects.  He was a lead instructor for a municipal police training academy for 6 years and is a state and local-level law enforcement firearms instructor.  Sgt. Garcia also holds certifications as a field training officer and a first aid, CPR and AED instructor.



Sergeant Andrew Hopkinson

Sergeant Andrew Hopkinson spent over 20 years with the Village of Mamaroneck, NY Police Department before retiring in early 2007.  Upon retirement, he was immediately hired as a training sergeant for the town of Rye (NY) public safety department. As an active shooter instructor and nationally recognized defensive tactics trainer working for two world renowned law enforcement training companies, Sergeant Hopkinson has trained hundreds of law enforcement and military units all over the United States and Canada. As a supervisor of the Village of Mamaroneck Police Department Marine Unit, he developed a “Maritime Defensive Tactics” program that was taught to numerous police marine units around the nation. He is a New York state municipal police academy instructor. He is also a certified Tactical EMT and a CPR, AED and First Aid Instructor. Hopkinson worked at Ground Zero after 9/11 and was employed as a private security contractor in New Orleans, Louisiana in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Sgt. Hopkinson is a Federal Bureau of Investigation certified firearms instructor as well as a New York state certified firearms instructor. A New York state certified general topics police instructor and a Monadnock MEB baton instructor. He spent 10 years as a search and rescue underwater crime scene diver & dive team commander. Sgt. Hopkinson has received instruction in responding to terrorist threats and first responder actions at bombing scenes taught by former members of the Israeli Special Forces. He has also attended training on multiple terrorist school siege doctrine taught by westerners who were allowed to investigate the Beslan (Russia) school massacre in 2004. He is a charter member of ILEETA (International Law Enforcement Educators & Trainers Association) and a member of the International Counter Terrorism Officers Association. 


Dr. Donna Ottaviano
Superintendent of Schools
North Providence, Rhode Island

Dr. Donna Ottaviano has worked in public education for over twenty-five years. She has been employed as a teacher, as a public health educator (for the state Health Dept), as an elementary school principal, Assistant Superintendent and Superintendent of Schools all in Rhode Island. She has served in her current capacity of Superintendent of Schools in North Providence, Rhode Island, since 2004. Her areas of expertise have focused on curriculum and instruction, and professional development.

As an executive board representative of the Rhode Island School Superintendents Association, Dr. Ottaviano has served on the Rhode Island Governors Steering Committee for School Safety since its creation in 2006. In the area of school safety, she has organized numerous presentations throughout the state of Rhode Island for public, private, and parochial schools, as well as, police and fire. Within her own district, she was instrumental in the creation and implementation of a School Safety Plan and the training of all school personnel on Response to Active Shooters and Bomb Threats. She has worked with local police, fire and the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency to conduct active shooter drills in local schools.

Dr. Ottaviano has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education and History, a Masters Degree in Educational Administration, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership. She holds Rhode Island certifications in Elementary Education, Middle School Social Studies, as an Elementary and Middle School Principal, in Curriculum Instruction and Design, and as an Assistant Superintendent and Superintendent of Schools. In 1999, her dissertation entitled “The Relationship Between Elementary Teacher Professional Development and Classroom Practices” was published through Johnson & Wales University