Leading a Legacy

Thought-provoking conversation, high standards, candor, and a signature three slaps on the back come graduation day are just a few things that might come to mind when former students think of Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training Instructor Ed Lingenfelter.

His name now synonymous with Leadership, the section where he teaches, Lingenfelter recently was honored for his 20 years of service to the department and designated as DOCJT’s current longest-serving instructor.

A Fresh Start

Like many extraordinary humans, Lingenfelter’s life began in a very ordinary way. A Lexington native, he was the son of a hard-working grocery store employee and a cafeteria cook. While his brothers exhibited athletic prowess, Lingenfelter’s talents began to shine once he was accepted into the Millersburg Military Institute at age 14.

“It made all the difference in my life,” he said, citing his family’s humble beginnings and how the school helped set him on a lifepath of service and success. “People ask, ‘What’s the most significant achievement in your life?’ My dad’s was that all three of his kids obtained a college education. There wasn’t a whole lot of excess for a guy who grew up in the depression, which my dad did. As a result of that, our family was more determined than many others.”

As a student, Lingenfelter pushed himself to meet the expectations outlined by the academy’s three cornerstones of physical fitness, deportment, and academics. At graduation he was valedictorian, class president and captain of the football team.

Lingenfelter’s leadership lessons also began at Millersburg, where he said his first memorable demonstration came from his English teacher, who had been in the 101st Airborne at the Battle of the Bulge. 

“He was a man of impenetrable morals and integrity, “the student recalled. “He was the guy who had the leader’s talk and the leader’s walk.”

At Millersburg, the young cadet also met former DOCJT Training Director Greg Howard, then a charismatic Lexington Police captain teaching Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) at the school. Howard’s impression greatly impacted Lingenfelter’s decision to pursue law enforcement, specifically to work for Lexington. The young Lingenfelter’s family history compounded this—his grandfather also served Lexington as a police and traffic officer for nearly half a century, according to a Fayette County historian, said Lingenfelter.

A Few Good Men

Nominated to West Point but not receiving an appointment, Lingenfelter was approached by Colonel Junso Ogawa, an Army ROTC recruiter. The man said he wouldn’t pressure the student to join, but rather hoped to entice him to want to know more about the program. Noting that the recruiter was a good person, a trait Lingenfelter says is key in leadership, is one reason he decided to join ROTC.

“I repeat this mantra with the students I teach in leadership, “If you’re not a good person first, you will never be a good parent. If you’re not a good person, you will never be a good coach. If you’re not a good person, you will never be a good leader,” he added. “Nobody is going to come to you. They will only come to you if they must. Is that the person you want to be? People like Greg Howard made it look easy.”

After graduation, Lingenfelter gained a full ROTC Army scholarship to further his education and attended the New Mexico Military Institute, afterward joining the Army Reserves, which he served for six years.

Still early in this career, Lingenfelter had the opportunity to interview for the position of general’s Aide de Camp, essentially serving as the General’s sounding board.

During the interview, the general asked Lingenfelter what the morale was like in the division. Politely, the soldier told his senior that morale was low. Stunned but impressed by the young man’s honesty, he asked why that might be. A few minutes later, Lingenfelter had the job.

“What I found out was, candor matters,” he said.

Through this position, which he held for two years, Lingenfelter said he learned how real leaders talk—through direct communication.

Undefined Rise Above

While in the Reserves, Lingenfelter also joined the Lexington Police Department in 1994. By 1996, he felt like he was sitting at the top of the world. Each day Lingenfelter went to work at a job on the police force where he was thriving. He had been given a new command assignment in the U.S. Army Reserves while being reassessed to active duty in the Army, his first love. To top things off, he was in the process for employment from the United States Secret Service. Three doors all leading to success stood wide for Lingenfelter on June 20, 1996. The next day—he was shot.

It’s a situation an officer never wants to experience. At the end of the second shift, Lingenfelter was heading home. On his way, he observed a suspected DUI. As he approached the vehicle, an assailant walking by the traffic stop fired their weapon. Bullets entered and exited Lingenfelter’s body three times. At one point, the perpetrator had the gun barrel placed against Lingenfelter’s head—thankfully, it jammed, and the injured officer was able to fight out of the struggle and make it to a nearby business for someone to call for assistance.

During the following investigation, police looked for a connection between Lingenfelter and the shooter—there wasn’t one. Instead, Lingenfelter said, the assailant voiced his intent was to harm an officer, any officer.

While other individuals might have seen the incident as an exit from law enforcement, that’s not Lingenfelter. He recovered and returned to the field, viewing the incident as only a comma in a single sentence of his life. In reflection, he credited inspiration from his father, an amputee who never stopped working.

“I think he lost his leg when I was 1 or 2 years old,” recalled Lingenfelter. “He went to work because he said he had a family and he had to provide for his family. My dad was a great example in a lot of things. That was one of them.”

While working at Lexington PD, Lingenfelter gained experience in several units including patrol, investigations, robbery and homicide, and financial crimes.

While in the latter, he trained as a Forensic Questioned Document Examiner, which, as providence would have it, allowed him to come nearly full circle and work closely with the Secret Service —so closely he was visiting their office nearly daily for five years, working several high-profile financial crimes and was sent to their Executive Protection School.

Through the Secret Service, Lingenfelter’s lesson on the importance of making connections was solidified.

“In the Secret Service, you have to be able to call local officials to help out,” he explained. “People will help you if they like you and trust you.”

All Roads Lead Home

In 2001, Lingenfelter joined DOCJT, where he served in basic training, six years as a Police Corps coordinator, assisted in creating a financial crimes course and then taught in-service.

One day, Lingenfelter’s mentor and former Leadership instructor Ken Morris approached him about the possibility of teaching in the section. The longtime instructor told Lingenfelter that he was articulate, funny and jovial, but then asked him what he really knew that he could pass on to DOCJT’s leadership students.

“I will be honest, I was scared to death,” he said, recalling the weight of responsibility he felt upon accepting the task while knowing he had to find a way to spark interest in his students and make them want to be better and learn.

Lingenfelter said he immediately delved into reading, something he continues to do to this day. He knew he couldn’t be Morris, or other leaders he revered, but he could be himself—and as his mother always said, “Be yourself because everyone else is already taken.”

Again, he rose to the challenge.

Keys to Being a Leader

Now having masterfully carved out a seat for himself at the leadership table, and becoming well-respected in the field, Lingenfelter is most notably associated with DOCJT’s Academy of Police Supervision (APS), a course written to develop sergeants and first-line supervisors.

“APS isn’t just a leadership course in law enforcement,” he said of the course. “It’s a leadership course on life. It teaches you to be a significant person of influence for everyone, not just at work.

(Photo by Jim Robertson)

Noting how much he enjoys making personal connections with his students, Lingenfelter said he doesn’t feel like he has to do his job, but rather it’s something he gets to do. Seeing the growth APS students make in just 15 training days, he added, is a privilege.

At the start of each class, Lingenfelter said his expectations are always high.

“There is a saying that the leader’s high but realistic expectations create high performance. Now, I’m not saying all these people will score 100s on all their tests, but they will carry forth the expectation of what being a person of influence is in and out of uniform.”

One of the most important things Lingenfelter wants his students to remember is that one of the first steps toward becoming a person of influence is a simple one—be a good person.

“Do you want to be a better person? Why? It’s hard to define, isn’t it?” Lingenfelter asked. “What if you depended on someone? Who do you want to go to? The good person or the maybe good person?  Leadership is dynamic.  You must define what being good is to you … Do you like being mediocre? No, because that means you are only the best of the least and the least of the best. Mediocrity is not something you want to wear as a label as a leader.”

Legacy and Family

One’s sphere of influence is broad, expanding far outside their beat or agency and into their community and home.

For Lingenfelter, that home is made happy thanks to his wife, Rachel, their daughter, Emma, and son, Will.

In APS, Lingenfelter said he tells his students to listen to their people, that they will tell them everything they need to know. Families, he added, are no different—that communication is extremely important.

“Kids just want some time,” he continued. “I remind each student, the grass isn’t going to get any taller, and the groceries aren’t going to get any fuller in the cupboards. When you go home, don’t immediately run off to the store. Do not go by the police department. Go home and give your family at least 15 minutes, which may turn into 30 and maybe even 50 minutes. Believe it or not, they have missed you.”

As far as how he is remembered when he decides to leave the workforce, Lingenfelter says he doesn’t want to be remembered for any misfortune that befell him, that he is more than that. And indeed, he is. Lingenfelter is a Kentucky boy, a solider, a successful officer and now, stands as part of DOCJT’s leadership team shaping the future for the commonwealth’s law enforcement executives. But most of all, Lingenfelter is a husband, father and friend. To this longtime professional, it isn’t about leaving a legacy; it’s about leading one.