Cory Nelson is a retired captain with the Madison, Wisconsin, Police Department, (MPD) where he spent 32 years. While at MPD, Captain Nelson served in various roles including commander of Internal Affairs and Investigative Services as well as precinct commander in three different precincts and assistant commander of the special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team. He was responsible for bringing a pre-arrest opiate-related criminal diversion program to Madison and has presented on the program at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference. He is a National Institute of Justice Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) Scholar alumnus and is a current member of Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) Project on American Justice.

Captain Nelson has traveled the United States teaching focused deterrence to a variety of groups including at the US Attorney’s Conference and various Project Safe Neighborhoods conferences. In 2022, he co-authored a paper for CNA titled “Recruitment and Retention in US Policing-Rethinking Business as Usual” and presented on it at the recent CNA Executive Session.

Captain Nelson is currently a part-time faculty member at the Madison Area Technical College Police Academy, is on the Board of Directors for the local Chamber of Commerce, and stays busy in a variety of volunteer roles.