DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat Cmdr. Brian Seastone, a 23-year veteran of UAPD, is heading for training at the FBI National Academy in Virginia.

He waited seven years to be accepted as one of 12 police officers in the state each year allowed to attend a law enforcement training program with the FBI.

But this year, Cmdr. Brian Seastone finally made it, the last member of the UAPD command staff to attend the 10-week program, heralded as one of the most prestigious in the world.

Seastone, a 23-year veteran of the University of Arizona Police Department who recently took the helm as the commander of the majority of field operations for the more than 50-member police force, was accepted into the FBI National Academy, based in Quantico, Va. There, he will work alongside management officers from around the world, said UAPD Chief Anthony Daykin.

Seastone said the training will teach him the most up-to-date issues surrounding forensics, communication and leadership development, behavioral sciences and constitutional law, among other things.

Still, Seastone already accomplished one of the biggest feats: getting in. While he waited more than seven years, some have waited more than a decade, Daykin said.

The classes Seastone will take at the FBI will count as college credit through the University of Virginia. He already holds a master's degree in education.

Once the 10-week course ends, he will come back to work at the UAPD on June 22.

"I have no intentions of going anywhere else. This is just a great place to work," Seastone said.

The National Academy was founded in 1935 and holds classes for at least 200 students from around the world on a quarterly basis.

Daykin said Arizona is allowed three high-ranking officers to attend the program each session, and administrators make sure not to focus on departments that serve larger cities. Having all of UAPD's command staff as graduates of the program is a privilege, he said.

Daykin, who went through the program in 1999 while working for the Tucson Police Department, said one of the biggest rewards of attending was establishing professional and social contacts with law enforcement from around the world.

"Rather than go to a detective, you can go right to the source," Daykin said.

Daykin recalled a time when his family was traveling to England, and a former classmate from the program was able to show his family around.

"He picked them up, took them out for lunch and gave them a tour of Scotland Yard. He was willing to help out," he said.