About Us

Edward Obayashi is the Deputy Sheriff and Policy Advisor for the Modoc County Sheriff's Office. Ed is also the Chief Investigator for the Office of the District Attorney. He serves as the law enforcement advisor for numerous law enforcement agencies, Joint Powers Authorities (insurance carriers) for law enforcement, and law enforcement advisory organizations. As a licensed attorney, he also serves as the Legal Advisor, General Counsel, and official training advisor related to Use of Force and Police Practices for these entities.

Ed is recognized as a foremost legal and training expert in California, nationally, and internationally in law enforcement matters, particularly in Use of Force and Internal Affairs Investigations issues. He is one of the most in demand legal lecturers in Use of Force and Police Practices for law enforcement legal associations, including the State BAR of California.

Ed is an official United States government and international Internal Affairs Investigation and Use of Force expert. The United States State Department and the Mexico Federal Police selected him to represent United States law enforcement as the keynote speaker for the Internal Affairs Investigation and Use of Force international conferences in Mexico City, Mexico.

He trains and advises county counsels, city attorneys, district attorneys, and law enforcement civil and criminal defense attorneys in legal matters and complex cases.

He is also recognized as both a national and California lead expert in Use of Force investigations, especially for officer involved shootings as he was chosen by the Department of Justice as a special consultant for operational, training, legal, and policy guidance for OIS investigations statewide.

As such, Ed also conducts administrative investigations (Internal Affairs), particularly for serious Use of Force cases (e.g. Officer Involved Shootings), and other serious acts of officer misconduct for California and national law enforcement agencies.

Ed is a leading expert witness in Use of Force cases. He is regularly retained by law enforcement criminal and civil defense attorneys, prosecutors, and associations representing law enforcement agencies in high profile and complex cases.

Ed was the expert witness for the successful defense of the largest Use of Force civil liability case in United States history.

He is a leading California Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certified instructor for critical law enforcement training (see Training tab) and is the official Use of Force training advisor for the California Association of Police Training Officers. He is the lead instructor for the only POST certified Advanced Internal Affairs Investigations course.

In the especially sensitive subject of racial profiling, Ed is a POST (California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training) subject matter expert in Bias Based Policing for which he served as a POST advisor on developing the mandatory training curriculum for all California peace officers.

In response to the growing problem of police social media misconduct, Ed created POST’s first certified training course for responsible practices for social media use by peace officers (see Training tab).

As a result of the identified vital training need for investigating complex Use of Force incidents, including officer involved shootings, Ed, the California Department of Justice training expert, developed the first POST certified courses for Video Evidence Analysis and Moving Vehicle OIS Investigations.

Ed is the official law enforcement advisor and trainer for member counties of numerous Joint Powers Authorities representing various law enforcement agencies.

He is a highly regarded legislative consultant for California state and local law enforcement agencies and associations regarding legislation related to Use of Force.

Ed is a prominent law enforcement media expert and is regularly featured in both California and national news media and official law enforcement training media for his Use of Force and Police Practices expertise (see Media tab).