UPD’s three newest members will be formally sworn in at the same ceremony. They are Sergeant Sandi Bertain, Officer Will Hostler and Officer Joseph Jones.
Soderberg is a graduating member of the most recent class of the 10-week FBI National Academy at Quantico, Virginia. She was among some 250 law enforcement officers from 49 states and 24 countries who graduated Sept. 12 from the academy’s 234th session.
Soderberg is one of an elite group of fewer than 2,500 women to have graduated since the academy was first created more than 70 years ago in response to a special federal commission that recommended the standardization and professionalizing of all law enforcement departments across the United States.
UPD Chief Thomas Dewey said the FBI National Academy is considered one of the most prestigious law enforcement schools in the world, providing expert management training and contemporary specialized instruction to the most promising leaders currently in the field. Attendees are invited only after being nominated by their department’s chief executive. Once nominated, the candidates undergo an extensive background check and interview process. Admission is strictly limited: only one-half of one percent of all law enforcement personnel globally are invited to attend by the director of the FBI. Residing in government barracks on a 385-acre Marine Corps compound, Soderberg successfully completed structured classes taught by top experts in labor law, conflict and crisis management, interpersonal communication, personal fitness and media relationships.
"The training was among the most academically and physically demanding that I have ever received," Soderberg said. "I am already starting to apply what I learned in my current assignment as Operations Commander at UPD."
The entire group of about 250 candidates was divided into six sections, similar to the organization of a military platoon. Soderberg’s connections with the other members of her section provide her with a solid network of professional contacts across the country, and internationally, that she can call on for advice and assistance in the future. Many of the strongest bonds in Soderberg’s section of 50 classmates were forged through weekly physical fitness challenges that each group was expected to overcome as a team. The final week saw the toughest physical fitness challenge, the Marine Corps obstacle course made famous in an FBI training scene in the movie “Silence of the Lambs.”
Known at the academy as “The Yellow Brick Road,” the 6.8-mile fitness test involves running twisty wooded trails through rough terrain, scrambling over three walls, climbing six ropes and overcoming 26 obstacles that include jumping through windows, crawling under barbed wire and traversing cargo nets. Soderberg and the rest of her team successfully completed the “Yellow Brick Road” on one of the last days of the 10-week course. At a special dinner that night, she and her counterparts were awarded individual yellow-painted bricks to memorialize their mastery of the obstacle course, named for the yellow-painted rocks that dot the forest trails as markers.
A 1984 graduate of Humboldt State University, Soderberg is the only current member of UPD to have completed the FBI National Academy. After growing up in Humboldt County, she began her law enforcement career as an officer at the Eureka Police Department in 1985, where she was named rookie of the year. She rapidly advanced through the ranks there, serving as a corporal, field training officer, detective and sergeant. She was twice nominated to attend the FBI National Academy during her tenure at EPD, but voluntarily stepped aside in both instances to allow others with more seniority to attend.
Soderberg was hired as a UPD lieutenant in 2007 and her opportunity to attend the National Academy fell into place during the 2008 HSU summer semester.
"We really missed Lynne during the summer, but we are so glad she had the chance to go to the National Academy, represent Humboldt State and complete this important experience,” Dewey said.
HSU Vice President for Student Affairs Steven Butler added, “As a respected police professional and an HSU alumnus, Lieutenant Soderberg’s accomplishment is particularly special. Her completion of the FBI National Academy is a rare honor in law enforcement, and a reflection of the high caliber of all of those serving in the University Police Department.”
Law enforcement officers attending the FBI National Academy typically have at least 19 years of law enforcement experience at the time they are admitted. A total of 41,948 graduates now represents the FBI National Academy since its inception in 1935. More than half are still active in law enforcement work, many in executive or command level positions.