Security Faculty Spotlight - Bill Ricca
We are thrilled to introduce to you NITA’s newest faculty team member, Bill Ricca.
With extensive experience in law enforcement management and training, Bill is a great asset to NITA’s faculty team. During his career, he served over 30 years as a full-time police officer with extensive experience focusing on instruction and management. While working in law enforcement, Bill has literally hundreds of citations and commendations to include over 40 community and service awards for his exemplary service.
We are thrilled to have Bill as a part of our team, and he will join NITA’s already experienced team as a licensed DI Instructor to teach the instructor-led online Florida Security Officer Training. Get to know Bill and his background:
Tell us about yourself and your career path: Bill stated that he served over 34 years in law enforcement with the NYPD and Northport (NY) Police Department. At the time of his retirement in 2019, he was the Chief of Department at the Northport PD. His training and educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from St. John’s University and a graduate degree from the Louisville University Management of Small Law Enforcement Agencies School, the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Development School.
Additionally, Bill holds over 50 Law Enforcement certifications. Units that he either worked or supervised include Patrol, K9, Training, Special Operations, Narcotics, Marine, and Investigations, and he was a responder to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.
Upon his retirement, Bill knew he could not sit still and wanted to further his experience and teach the required training for Security Officers in Florida. Bill commented, “Training is important because the world is an ever-changing place and our security professionals need to keep up in order to successfully serve.”
With your years of experience, what do you enjoy about the security industry? As an experienced law enforcement officer, Bill stated, “Security is the natural progression after a career in Law Enforcement for someone wanting to stay engaged in the industry.” There are similar and sometimes even parallel goals, tasks, and objectives between the two industries. Bill’s favorite part of his career was working in the K-9 unit, training and teaching officers, and having the opportunity to be a leader in law enforcement.
As a security professional, what advice would you offer? Bill commented, “I think anyone entering the security field needs to be driven and willing to go the extra step to seek out training above and beyond the initial certification. There is no such thing as enough education/knowledge.”
How was your NITA experience: As a graduate of the NITA Florida Security D license course, I can assure you that NITA’s training is second to none! Bill further states, “I am excited to join the team at NITA and truly look forward to training the next generation of security officers in Florida.”
