Michele Rivard
Anaheim Fire Department
CERT Program Manager

Michele has been with the City of Anaheim since 2005, and brings nearly 10 years of training experience and project management to CERT. She earned her Masters Degree in Organizational Leadership and Development and specializes in developing and refining training curriculum. Michele currently teaches Disaster Preparedness and CERT Team Organization, and when she isn't teaching CERT, she can be seen throughout the City of Anaheim talking to businesses and organizations about getting better prepared and trained in the event of a major disaster.

Captain Joe Vargas

Captain Joe Vargas has been an Anaheim Police Officer for over 25 years.  During this time he has worked as a hostage negotiator, field training officer, and narcotics investigator.  After his promotion to Sergeant in 1991 he was assigned as a field supervisor and later as a Community Action Policing Team Supervisor and Community-Policing supervisor. 

In 1995 he formed the non-profit Anaheim Police Activities League to work with at risk children in Anaheim. This program now services over 300 children in Anaheim on a regular basis from two facilities. Starting in 1997, he served as the Public Information Officer for the Anaheim Police Department. In this capacity he served as spokesperson for the department both in the media and the community.
Captain Vargas served as PIO for the department until his promotion to Lieutenant in 2000.  Captain Vargas severed as a Watch Commander and later as the Strategic Services Bureau Commander where he managed the Special Events, Training and Helicopter Details.  
Captain Vargas served as the incident commander during the 2002 American League Baseball Championships and World Series. He currently serves as the Operations Support Division Commander.

Captain Vargas serves as an instructor at the Peace Officer Standards and Training management school where he trains on crisis communications and media. He has also instructed at numerous public and private sector events on media relations.

Captain Vargas holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Organizational Management from the University of La Verne and serves as Vice-Chairperson of the California Law Enforcement Image Coalition. In addition for the last two years he has been the host of “Que Pasa con Jose”, a Spanish local cable access show that provides a spotlight for programs and issues related to the immigrant community in Orange County.

Captain Vargas has taken an active role in coordinating the Spanish CERT classes, both as an instructor for Disaster Psychology and Terrorism, but also in advertising and generating interest within the Spanish Community. We are lucky to have such an accomplished member of our police force involved!

Christopher Schneider

Christopher Schneider has been with the Anaheim Police Dept. for 20 years as an officer, SWAT team member, Assistant team leader and Sniper, Chris has extensive experience as a tactics & firearms instructor. Chris served 5 years with the U.S. Army Military Police. Investgator Schneider is currently assigned to the Homeland Security Bureau where he coordinates the Anaheim Urban Area Security Initative ( UASI ). He is also an Advisor and Member of the Board of Directors for the California Association of Tactical Officers. (CATO).

Chris is the Vice President and Senior Instructor for National Training Concepts, a Law Enforcement Training Company specializing in Special Weapons and Tactics Training.

Investigator Schneider has been involved in teaching Disaster Psychology and Terrorism in our CERT Classes. He also successfully delivered the Disaster Psychology Class in our first ever, Teen CERT class by refining the curriculum to make it easy to understand and comprehend for younger minds. We are fortunate to have Chris's expertise for our CERT Class!