About Better Protectors
You Want to Feel Safe and Prepared.
We Will Show You How.
We will give you practical training that helps you before, during and after a threat to your health and safety.
Do you want to be able to take an active role in protecting yourself, your family and your co-workers? We can help you gain those skills. Better Protectors was founded with the goal of bringing quality training to law-abiding people and organizations. Our training is relevant and will fit in the context of your life, whether at home, at work or at church.
Being a Protector is more than just learning to shoot or earning a belt in a martial art. A well rounded Protector can protect themselves, provide medical aid to others (or themselves), has made their home a harder target and has developed their situational awareness to possibly avoid danger before it happens.
Alan Hughes
Alan’s law enforcement experience covered local, state and federal agencies and included assignments as a detective, traffic homicide investigator, drug interdiction specialist and tactical team leader. He has extensive experience as a specialist in protective services, serving on the protective teams for numerous diplomats and government officials, both domestically and abroad.
During his career, Alan was a member of the SW Florida Multi-agency Gang Task Force, the South Florida Cargo Theft Task Force, the regional FBI Terrorism Task Force, as well as others.
Alan served as an instructor for law enforcement, corrections and criminal justice professionals. He holds numerous specialty instructor certifications and is certified as a Gang Specialist by the Florida Gang Investigators Association. He’s certified as a field training officer, Red Cross CPR/First Aid/AED instructor, ALERRT Active Shooter Response instructor, ALERRT Civilian Response and Casualty Care Instructor, Stop the Bleed instructor, criminal justice driving instructor and an NRA pistol instructor, among other areas of training.
He has a bachelor’s degree in training and development, an associate’s degree in criminal justice and a certificate in emergency management and homeland security. He holds a practitioner designation in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and is certified as an Assessor for the Department of Homeland Security’s Best Practices for Anti-Terrorism Security (BPATS) program.
In the area of church safety, Alan has served as the safety director of a large, multi-campus church for a decade. He is also a founding member of the Safe Church Consortium of Southwest Florida and has been the group’s principal trainer since 2015. He consults for and trains churches of various sizes around the country.
Alan is a proud father and decorated veteran of the US Army. He likes bad dad jokes, good coffee and is a huge Star Wars fan. Alan loves his amazing wife, movies, reading and Florida State Seminoles football.
Instructor certifications:
NRA Pistol Instructor
ALERRT Civilian Response Casualty Care (CRCC) Instructor
ALERRT Civilian Response to Active Shooter Shooter Events (CRASE) Instructor Red Cross CPR/First Aid/AED Instructor
American Safety and Health Institute (ASHI) Instructor
First Care Providers Stop the Bleed Instructor
Lead Church Safety Instructor- Safe Church Consortium
NRA Range Safety Officer
Firearms Training Systems Instructor
Criminal Justice Vehicle Operations Instructor
Criminal Justice General Topics Instructor
Professional Designations:
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design practitioner- Florida Atlantic University
Emergency Management Professional- FEMA
Best Practices for Anti-Terrorism Assessor- DHS
Gang Specialist- Florida Gang Investigator’s Association
Traffic Homicide Investigator- IPTM
Hostage Negotiator
Experience and Delivery
Our instructors bring real world law enforcement, military, medical and church security experience into every class and present it in a way that you can apply to your life.
David began his journey in security and law enforcement in the United States Air Force. His experience included physical and personal security, law enforcement, detainee operations, and corrections both domestically and abroad. During his 10 years of service, he received extensive training in combat operations, special weapons and tactics (SWAT), long-range precision engagements and nonlethal weapons. As an instructor, David taught a range of courses from explosive detection and combatives to active shooter and mass casualty response. He also became a Nonlethal Individual Weapons Instructor for the US Armed Forces.
David holds instructor qualifications from the NRA for pistol and Refuse to be a Victim. In addition, he holds credentials as a Stop the Bleed instructor and Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) from ALERRT. David is also a certified human trafficking investigator. He has assisted in investigations and developed courses for both citizens and law enforcement agencies.
His medical response experience started with certification as a Combat Lifesaver before deploying to Iraq. He later attained licensure as a Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician (NREMT) and a Florida license as well. David is now a Florida licensed registered nurse (RN) and holds an associate degree in nursing.
David has served as a team leader for the safety team of a large, multi-campus church in Southwest Florida. He is an adjunct instructor for the Safe Church Consortium of Southwest Florida.
Outside of his work in medicine and security, David is a loving family man who loves a hot cup of coffee, long walks on the beach with his awesome wife, introducing his two kids to BJJ and recreationally strangling his friends on the mat.
Instructor certifications:
NRA Pistol Instructor
ALERRT Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) Instructor
First Care Providers Stop the Bleed Instructor
Interservice Nonlethal Individual Weapons Instructor
NRA Refuse To Be a Victim Instructor
Church Safety Instructor- Safe Church Consortium SW Florida
NRA Range Safety Officer
Professional Designations:
Registered Nurse- State of Florida
Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician- NREMT
Certified Human Trafficking Investigator (CHTI) – McAfee Institute
Air Field Security Assessor
Combat Lifesaver
