Commander (ret.) Keith Knotek is a career law enforcement officer who retired after 30 years of service in the state of California. Keith became interested in law enforcement as a teenager when in 1982 he joined the police explorer program at the Huntington Beach Police Department in Orange County, CA. He was hired as a police cadet in 1984, and a police officer in 1986 for the City of Huntington Beach. He subsequently went to work for the Laguna Beach Police Department in 1987.
Commander Knotek later moved to northern California and worked for the Butte County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy sheriff and patrol sergeant. In 1997, his troubles with post-traumatic stress (PTS) began when he was involved in a foot pursuit of an armed domestic violence suspect who opened fire on him and one of his deputies who was fatally wounded in that incident. Later that year Commander Knotek laterally transferred to the San Jacinto as a police sergeant. He promoted several times and served as the department’s commander (deputy chief) until the San Jacinto Police Department merged with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department to provide law enforcement services to the community in 2004. Keith served his last 11 years with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department until finally retiring in January 2015.
Commander Knotek has worked assignments in Patrol, Traffic, Special Enforcement, K-9, Detectives, and Administration. After being involved in multiple critical incidents over a long and sustained career, Keith suffered from the invisible wounds-PTS for several decades. He began his journey to wellness and resilience in post-retirement and now teaches and speaks to various organizations about mental health. He is trained in Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISM) and is a certified chaplain and peer counselor for several volunteer organizations.
Commander Knotek holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership, a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice, and several Associate Degrees. He is a graduate of the FBI-Law Enforcement Executive Development Regional Command College program, California POST Supervisory Development Institute (SLI) program, and the California POST Executive Development Course (EDC). Keith has authored several books about resilience and his mission and purpose are to give back to the public safety community.
Keith currently resides in Arizona’s “high country” with his wife, Lily, and has two adult daughters living in different parts of the country.