Tom graduated from the FBI National Academy, the FBI Executive Development Program, and the Senior Management Institute for Police at Harvard University. His assignments ranged from Patrol Officer to Vice and Organized Crime; from Canine to Helicopters; from Planning and Research to the transformation of municipal policing; and to Executive Protection for Presidents and Prime Ministers.

With twenty-nine years at the rank of Chief in Arizona and Texas, Tom has pursued his chosen profession from one extreme to the other.