Patrick Funkhouser

Patrick achieved his Master Firearms Instructor Certification in 2006 and began working as a part-time firearms instructor for P.T.I. shortly after. He transitioned to his current, full-time position as the P.T.I. Facilities Coordinator in 2019.


Patrick started his law enforcement career as a patrol Deputy in McLean County, Illinois in 1991 where he was a Defensive Tactics Instructor and a Field Training Officer. He worked as a Gang Crime Specialist on a plainclothes taskforce as well as serving on an Interstate Drug Interdiction Unit. Patrick accepted a lateral transfer to the Champaign Police Department in 1997 and became an Armorer, Master Firearms Instructor and was promoted to Detective where he specialized in gun crimes. He graduated from Hazardous Devices School at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and joined the bomb squad. He was later assigned to an FBI Safe Streets Task Force where he was sworn in as a special federal agent for the second time in his career. Patrick has testified as an expert witness in firearms in both State and Federal court and has presented firearms lectures in both public forums and at the University of Illinois School of Law. Patrick retired from the Champaign Police Department as a Patrol Sergeant in 2019.


When asked why he came to PTI, he said “I’ve been a teacher to other police officers for almost three decades and I strongly believe in the adult learning model, which is the basis of everything P.T.I. does. Being a small part of P.T.I.’s 70 years of service to Illinois law enforcement officers is the greatest honor of my career”.