Call for Presentations – SEARCH Symposium

Michelle Kleckler

Michelle Kleckler is Division Director of the Criminal Justice Information Center, Michigan State Police, and has been a SEARCH Member since her appointment by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in May 2021. The Criminal Justice Information Center maintains the state’s criminal history repository, conducts background checks, operates the state’s sex offender registry, and reports crime data, among other responsibilities. Ms. Kleckler is an elected member of the SEARCH Board of Directors.

Leslie Moore

Ms. Moore is Director of the Information Services Division of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Immediate Past Chair of the SEARCH Membership Group and Board of Directors.

Ms. Moore has served the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) for over 25 years. She has served as Shift Supervisor of Criminal History Records and Identification, as Criminal History Records Manager, and as Division Director for the past 12 years.

As a Governor-appointed SEARCH Member for more than 10 years, Ms. Moore has actively sought leadership positions to support the organization’s goals and operations. She has served on the SEARCH Board since July 2015 and served two terms as Board Chairperson beginning in July 2018.

Ms. Moore serves as Chair of the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact Council, which promulgates rules and procedures for the effective use of the Interstate Identification Index (III) system for noncriminal purposes. She has served as Chair since 2020, and previously served as a Member of the Council’s Planning and Outreach Committee, Standards and Policy Committee, and Sanctions Committee.

At the state level, Ms. Moore serves as Chair of the Kansas Criminal Justice Information System (KCJIS) Committee. This team of state agencies and public safety associations oversees KCJIS, a public safety information-sharing system that connects over 1,500 local, tribal, state, and federal agencies in all 105 counties in Kansas. She previously served as Chair of the committee’s Project Planning and Coordination Subcommittee, Chair of its Executive Committee, and a Member of its Policy and Statute Subcommittees.

John Maki

John Maki is Director of the Council on Criminal Justice’s Task Force on Long Sentences and a Fellow at New York University’s Marron Institute of Urban Management. John has spent his career working to improve public safety outcomes as a non-profit executive, senior state governmental leader, and criminal justice policy expert. In 2015-19, he served as the Executive Director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. Outside of government, John led Illinois only non-partisan prison watchdog, the John Howard Association. He was also the Director of Innovation at the Alliance for Safety and Justice, where he partnered with community-based organizations and government leaders to design and implement criminal justice reforms and expand victim services.

Robin Joy, J.D., Ph.D.

Robin Joy, J.D., Ph.D., joined the Vermont Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) in 2005 and has been, since 2014, the Director of Research for Crime Research Group. She is responsible for all aspects of research and evaluation for CRG including research design, program evaluation, development of innovative methods to effectively merge and analyze records data, as well as the development of data sets and analytical processes.

Natalia Bowser

Natalia Bowser was raised in Montana and attended the University of Montana where she received her undergraduate degree in Criminology. She jumped quickly into her career with the Montana Highway Patrol (MHP), where she remained for 14 years, working in finance and operations. Upon leaving MHP she became the Director of the Montana Board of Crime Control (MBCC). MBCC is the state administering agency for criminal justice planning, policy development and grant administration working to reduce crime and victimization statewide.

She believes that partnership, collaboration, trust and follow-through are the cornerstones to successfully achieving viable solutions. When critical buy-in is achieved, worthwhile change and improvements can and will occur.

Ms. Bowser serves on the National Criminal Justice Association Board of Directors.

Brooke Cheaton

Brooke Cheaton is Manager of Project Ujima, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Project Ujima supports youth victims of violence and their families and provides them with treatment to holistically recover from their various levels of trauma.

Jay Harris

Jay Harris is Outside Counsel for the Consumer Data Industry Association, the voice of the consumer reporting industry, representing consumer reporting agencies including the nationwide credit bureaus, regional and specialized credit bureaus, background check companies, and others.

Cynthia Barnett-Ryan

Cynthia Barnett-Ryan is a Data Scientist for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Erica Smith

Erica L. Smith is Unit Chief, Law Enforcement Incident-Based Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Lieutenant Colonel Larry C. Newton Jr.

Larry C. Newton Jr. is a graduate from the University of Louisville with a Bachelor of Science Degree in the Administration of Justice. He is a 25 year veteran of the Kentucky State Police whose career began in 1998 as a Trooper at Post 5 LaGrange and in 2003 was transferred to Special Operations as a canine handler, handling both a Narcotics Detection K9 as well as a Cadaver Detection K9. In 2008, he promoted to Sergeant transferring to Post 5 Campbellsburg as the Administrative Sergeant and Primary Evidence Custodian. In 2015, he promoted to Lieutenant transferring to the Criminal Identification and Records Branch within the Office of Technical Services. In 2017, he promoted to Captain remaining at the Criminal Identification and Records Branch as well as becoming the Computer Technology Branch Commander. In 2018, he was appointed to Major with the Forensic Laboratory Branch as Commander of all six state forensic laboratories. Four years ago, he was appointed to Lieutenant Colonel as the Executive Director with the Office of Technical Services. This position includes his role as the CJIS Systems Officer, Nlets Representative and currently he serves on multiple committees as well as a member of the SEARCH Board of Directors for his second term.

David Downey

David Downey is President & CEO of the International Downtown Association (IDA). In this role, David is responsible for the overall strategic positioning of IDA as a world leader and champion for vital and livable urban centers. Prior to joining IDA, David served as the Managing Director for the American Institute of Architects’ Urban Design Center and as Executive Director for the Michigan Chapter of the American Planning Association. David has been a city advocate since the 1980s having received his degree in Architecture and Design with a focus on Urban Design. He speaks frequently throughout North America and has delivered talks in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, El Salvador and Japan. David has served on numerous not for profit boards over his career including recently for the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District in Washington, DC and the Responsible Hospitality Institute in California. David is currently on the Mobility Innovation District Advisory Board in Southwest Washington, DC.

Grace Beil Call

Grace Beil Call works to improve the administration of state victim programs—including assistance, compensation, and restitution—by working with federal, state, and local leaders. Prior to joining the CSG Justice Center, she was a visiting fellow for the Office for Victims of Crime at the U.S. Department of Justice and directed the Victims of Crime Act program for the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy in Washington state. Grace also previously led the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault. She started her work with victims as a volunteer at the Rape Recovery Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. She received her BS in gender studies from the University of Utah.

Brandon Vick

Brandon Vick is an associate professor of economics at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and has been a research associate with the Administration and Leadership Studies Research and Training Center (ALS-RTC) since 2017. His current work focuses on measuring improvements in the Pennsylvania criminal justice system and costs associated with various forms of victimization. Recent reports include an analysis of county recidivism trends, estimates on the economic costs of firearm injuries (both accidental and by assault), and the effects of the COVID pandemic on state-wide violent crime and victimization trends. Previous research has focused on measuring economic disparities (i.e. poverty or earnings) faced by certain groups of people: people with disabilities, people with severe psychiatric disorder, and veterans reintegrating into civilian life. Dr. Vick has a decade of teaching experience across elementary, high school, continuing education, and university settings. He currently teaches the Economics of Crime, Labor Economics, and Health Economics. He is a former Peace Corps volunteer, an experience that led him to become an economist that focuses on personal and economic development.

Anthony Powers

Anthony Powers is Executive Director and Board Member, American Equity and Justice Group. He is an experienced, inclusive, and inspirational leader, helping people to forge positive futures, and organizing people to work towards more equity in the justice system. He founded the American Equity and Justice Group to make data more available and useful, helping decision-makers understand the fairness of policy and sentencing decisions and ultimately improve equity in the justice system.

Amy C. O’Neill, MS, LPC

Amy C. O’Neill, MS, LPC, is a Survivor of the Boston Marathon Bombing, a Stakeholder for the National Mass Violence and Victimization Resource Center, a Licensed Professional Counselor, a member of the VOCA-NCJA and OVC TTAC Consultant Network, and served on the Disaster Distress Helpline task force, Disaster Mental Health Team for the Red Cross, and the Crisis Emotional Care Team for Vibrant Emotional Health.

Ms. O’Neill possesses a unique combination of personal and professional experience with trauma recovery for victims of Mass Violence and Terrorism. As a Trauma-Informed, 25+ year mental health professional, survivor, and endurance athlete (3x Ironman Triathlon and 6x Boston Marathon finisher), Ms. O’Neill has an intimate understanding of adversity, resilience, and how to work through the complicated trauma experience. As a result, Ms. O’Neill became a student of the painstaking recovery process. Her knowledge and professional experience, which she has gained from talking with victims and survivors worldwide, has culminated in a global perspective of the trauma impact and healing when victimized by mass violence or a terrorist attack.

Ms. O’Neill presented at the United Nations Global Congress for Victims of Terrorism at UNHQ NYC, the 2020 ISSTD Congress for Complex Trauma on Global Resilience in the Face of Terrorism, the National NOVA conference, contributed to the Model Legislative Provisions, and the KCIT Resilience Conference 2020. In addition, she has spoken in Parkland, Fl, at the Voices of Sept. 11th trauma conference, The Rebels Project Survivor Gathering, The United Nations International Remembrance Day Events, and The Inaugural Speakers Who Dare in NYC.

Ms. O’Neill maintains a private counseling practice, is an Adjunct Professor for the graduate Counseling Psychology Program at Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA, and is a Doctor of Health Sciences Student at Bay Path University. Ms. O’Neill hosts The Trauma Impact Podcast on Mental Health News Radio Network, focusing on trauma and recovery from mass violence. It has been downloaded around the world.

Angela Moreland, Ph.D.

Angela Moreland, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center (NCVC) at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). She earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Purdue University in 2009 and completed her pre-doctoral clinical internship and post-doctoral research fellowship at the NCVC. She has expertise in evaluation of prevention and intervention programs targeting victims of interpersonal violence and traumatic events. Dr. Moreland held a leadership role on a policy project entitled Vision 21 through the Office of Victims of Crime at the Department of Justice, which focuses on transforming victim services to better meet the needs of trauma victims and their families. Finally, Dr. Moreland serves as the Director of the Center for Firefighter Behavioral Health, which provides resources and support to address behavioral health needs of firefighters. Dr. Moreland currently serves as the Associate Director of the National Mass Violence and Victimization Resource Center (NMVVRC), an OVC-funded initiate to evaluate previous response to mass violence incidences, as well as develop effective response for future mass violence events.

Joseph J. (Joe) Popcun

Joseph J. (Joe) Popcun serves as Executive Deputy Commissioner of the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), the number two position at the agency. Prior to joining the DCJS, he served as Director of Policy and Practice at the Rockefeller Institute of Government and Executive Director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium. At the same time, in partnership with the Department of State, Joe was the Executive Director of the New York State Council on Community Re-Entry and Reintegration. During 2020 and 2021, he advised the New York Governor’s COVID-19 response and recovery operations. Joe also has served as Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Planning at DCJS, as well as Assistant Secretary and Policy Advisor for Public Safety in the New York State Governor’s Office. He joined state service in 2013 as an Excelsior Fellow in the Governor’s Office. He lives in Albany with his wife and their two children.

Chief Karl Auerbach

Chief Karl Auerbach a native Arizonan from Nogales, is a graduate of the Phoenix Police Department’s Regional Training Academy in 1980 (class number 164), has over 40-years of law enforcement service and has proudly served the Salt River Police Department now on his 30th year. Chief Auerbach has served as an Officer, Field Training Officer, SWAT Team Member, Detective, Sergeant and Lieutenant with the last 17-years as the Assistant Chief of Police including three separate previous occasions as the Acting Chief of Police (2004 to 2006, 2011 and 2016) and was officially promoted to Chief of Police on 10-02-16 as the 10th Chief of Police serving the Salt River Police Department.

Chief Auerbach has worked or supervised every Division and has supervised Sworn and Non-Sworn Professional Staff from every Division. Chief Auerbach’s experience and skills include extensive knowledge of Tribal, State and Federal law enforcement, jurisdiction, inter-government relations, investigations, policies and procedures and has investigated and enforced Tribal, State and Federal crimes presenting cases directly to the Tribal, State and U.S. Attorney’s Office for prosecution and has testified in Tribal, State and Federal Courts.

Chief Auerbach was the Case Agent in the first successful prosecution of a criminal street gang utilizing the Federal RICO statute and during a 3-year investigation dismantled a violent street gang that was in operation within the Phoenix Metropolitan area that had been responsible for 2 murders, armed robberies, drive-by shootings and fire bombings. Chief Auerbach was recognized by the U.S. Attorney General, Janet Reno, receiving the prestigious “William French Smith” Award for his efforts in this RICO case. He also testified before the U.S. Senate Sub-committee on the Judiciary/Committee on Indian Affairs regarding the RICO case.

Chief Auerbach is the recipient of the Officer of the Year (1992 and 1996), Criminal Investigation’s Divisional Employee of the Year (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996), Meritorious Service Award (1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996), Meritorious Service Award from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona (1996), Meritorious Service Award from the Inter Tribal Association Council of Arizona (1996), Employee of the Year runner-up from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (1996), “TOP COP” runner-up from the National Association of Police Organizations (1996) and the prestigious Chief’s Award of Excellence (1994, 1996 and 1998). Chief Auerbach is the Co-Founder of the Salt River Police Department’s Police Explorer Post, established in 1994 was the first Police Department within Indian Country Law Enforcement in the USA to begin a Police Explorer Post. The program instructs youths ranging in ages from 14 to 20 about Police work, Community involvement and commitment within the Community, providing valuable life skills such as accountability, communication, dedication, self-esteem, service, teamwork, respect, pride and professionalism. Our SRPD Explorer Program prepares young men and women to be valuable team members serving their Community, the SRPD or other businesses. Today there are over 20 men and women who were once SRPD Explorers who today now work within our SRPMIC Government, SRPD, SRDOC or other businesses.

Chief Auerbach is the Founder of the Indian Country Intelligence Network (ICIN), created in 1994, to establish a State-wide collaborative partnership between all 21 Indian Tribes to enhance communication and strengthen relationships with neighboring jurisdictions, law enforcement and criminal justice partners. Today, ICIN organizations are also found in California, Nevada, New Mexico and Washington.

Chief Auerbach serves on numerous boards to include: The Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Arizona Department of Homeland Security Regional Advisory Council Central Region (appointed by Governor Brewer and reappointed by Governor Ducey), Joint Powers Public Safety Committee (JPPSC) Board of Directors, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Information Analysis Infrastructure Protection Law Enforcement Forum (IAIP), was a member on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) State and Local Tiger Team (S&LTT) representing Tribal Police for the implementation of Executive Order 13356 (Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism Information to Protect Americans/Intelligence and Information Sharing Initiative), the East Valley Chiefs of Police Association, the East Valley Gang and Criminal Information Fusion Center (EVGCIFC), the Arizona AMBER Alert Oversight Committee (Founding Board Member), the 100 Club of Arizona (Indian Country Liaison) and the National Blue Alert Network Committee.

Chief Auerbach is also a member of numerous professional organizations to include: The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP, since 1992) and IACP Indian Country Section, Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police (AACOP), Fraternal Order of Police (FOP, since 1980), FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association (FBI LEEDA and graduate of the FBI Southwest Command College, 2005), IACP Leadership in Police Organizations (LPO) Inaugural Graduating Class Member (March 2007), Society of Police Futurists International (SPFI) and Valley Leadership Institute (alumni class number 35).

LeVar Michael

LeVar Michael, Senior Program Officer, Local Initiatives Support Corp., has worked to improve communities nationwide over the course of his career. LeVar worked as a youth counselor and later began a career in human services where he served as Program Coordinator. LeVar eventually transitioned to government service starting with the York City Housing Authority where he was responsible for organizing public housing residents and conducting community relations and outreach activities. LeVar was an active member of both the State and Federal Weed and Seed public safety initiatives, which conducted work throughout central Pennsylvania. He would later go on to help develop the successful Gang Prevention Initiative in York, PA where he received the York City Merit Service Award. LeVar also received numerous commendations from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency for his public safety and community organizing work. In 2011, LeVar joined the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and managed several initiatives including the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program (HIDTA), the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation (BCJI) and Operation Ceasefire. Prior to joining LISC in 2016, LeVar worked in federal service with the Corporation for National and Community Service. At LISC, LeVar provides technical assistance and training to cities throughout the country. LeVar holds a B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. in Organizational Management.

Mike Fargen

Mike Fargen is the Manager for the NCJA Data Center. In this position, Mr. Fargen gathers data and promotes data-driven and evidence-based policies and practices for inclusion in outreach and training. Mr. Fargen analyzes, catalogues, summarizes data, and creates visualizations of interrelated data sets to communicate findings in a clear and effective manner. In addition, Mr. Fargen compiles secondary research findings on trends, performance report metrics, evidence-based practices, policies to inform project work for the OVC VOCA Center and NCJA Center for Justice Planning. This work involves assisting in planning, developing, and assessing criminal justice initiatives, and conducting analyses for the SAAs and other governmental entities. Mr. Fargen oversees the NCJA Data Center portal that promotes real-time automation and accessibility of data for the association, SAAs, and federal partners.

Prior to joining NCJA, Mr. Fargen was the Statistical Analysis Center Director, and Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) Project Manager at the Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice where he oversaw both transactional data and applied data integration projects, along with the Uniform Crime Reporting program. Mr. Fargen chaired the CJIS Advisory Committee and managed the creation of the Nebraska victim case management system for VOCA subgrantees, and the Nebraska Victims of Crime Alert Portal used for victim notification.

Natasha N. Johnson, EdD

Natasha N. Johnson, EdD is Clinical Instructor and Director of the M.I.S. program in Criminal Justice Administration, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.

Dr. Johnson is a faculty member in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia State University. She also serves as the director of the M.I.S. program in Criminal Justice Administration. A career educator since 2001, her research is focused on critical theory, equity, and social justice leadership, particularly within the K-20+ sector. Her other research areas include intersectionality, educational law, policy, and governance, and curriculum development. Dr. Johnson holds multi-state reciprocity and has previously served as a teacher, guidance counselor, assistant dean, instructional leader, and curriculum developer in New York, Mississippi, and Jamaica, W.I. She currently serves as the ACJS (Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences) Executive Counselor for both the Restorative and Community Justice and the Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship sections. She was also named a 2019 UCEA (the University Council of Educational Administration in conjunction with the American Educational Research Association (AERA)) David L. Clark scholar. A Georgia State University alumna, she earned her Doctor of Education from the College of Education and Human Development in May 2019. A CETL 2020 Faculty Teaching Fellow, Natasha’s work has been published in the Taylor & Francis Routledge Focus series, Sage, Criminal Justice Review, and USA Today.

Dr. Robert Orth

Dr. Robert Orth is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and serves as a Research Specialist supporting the Pennsylvania Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) housed at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). Dr. Orth has worked in and supported Pennsylvania’s justice system for over 10 years while being a frequent investigator and contributor to Pennsylvania’s federally-funded State Justice Statistics Program for Statistical Analysis Centers (SJS-SAC) research projects. Notable projects include examining the recidivism effects of diversion vs. incarceration among nonviolent, substance-dependent offenders; cataloging and synthesizing system-wide crime trends and analytical metrics over a 5-year duration; baselining the recidivism rates of county-supervised offenders; establishing and examining the rates of statewide firearm violence; analyzing weapon relinquishments in Protection From Abuse (PFA) order cases; and measuring the costs associated with non-fatal firearm injuries in Pennsylvania.

Suzanne Breedlove

Suzanne Breedlove is a Senior Program Manager at the OVC Center for VOCA Administrators (VOCA Center) and serves as the TTA lead for VOCA Victim Compensation State Administrating Agencies (SAAs). Suzanne coordinates and delivers virtual and onsite peer-to-peer training and technical assistance to states and territories to create a strong support system, broaden victim services to historically underserved populations and advance promising policies and practices in federal grants administration. She serves as an integral member of the NCJA team and also collaborates with external partners including the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), the National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Board (NACVCB) and other national partners and TTA providers to address pressing victim compensation program needs and provide meaningful support to all SAAs.

Suzanne has more than 36 years of experience in victim services. For most of her career, she held the position of Director of Victims Services for the Oklahoma District Attorneys Council where she administered the state’s Crime Victims Compensation Program, Sexual Assault Examination Fund, and the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Assistance and Compensation grants.

Nationally, she has served on the Board of Directors for both the NACVCB and the National Association of Victims Assistance Administrators (NAVAA). Suzanne has a long history of working with communities experiencing mass violence. She assisted NACVCB in drafting the first ever Mass Casualty Protocol Manual for Victims Compensation Programs and also assisted OVC, with portions of The Oklahoma City Bombing After Action Report and the 9/11 After Action Report.

Throughout her career, Suzanne has served as a mentor for state compensation and assistance administrators on compensation program issues and grants management for VOCA administrators. Her life’s work has been to improve the lives of crime victims and provide guidance to those who serve them.

Suzanne also has a history of improving access to grants and compensation for Native American Tribes and tribal crime victims through policy changes that recognize and honor the unique needs of the Native American community. Through a State-Tribal Demonstration Program, she oversaw the important outreach effort that was recognized by OVC in 2015 when she was awarded the Ronald Wilson Reagan Public Policy Award for “Public Policy Leadership, Vision, and Innovation that Benefits Crime Victims” during National Crime Victim Rights Week.

Suzanne has a proven history of drafting successful state legislative proposals to improve crime victim compensation benefits and services and she holds a business degree from the Western International University.

David Marimon

David Marimon is a Policy and Research Analyst with the DC Criminal Justice Coordinating Council’s Statistical Analysis Center (SAC). Mr. Marimon leads the agencies adult gun violence research portfolio and manages the Districts GunStat Initiative and the CJCC’s Violent Crime Committee (VCC). In this capacity, Mr. Marimon provides regularized analysis related to shootings, violent gun crime trends, hot spot identification, firearm injury surveillance, predictive risk modeling and a variety of custom analysis on justice system operations. In addition, David provides project specific organizing, grant writing and training and technical assistance to partner agencies involved in enforcement and violence prevention. Since 2020, Mr. Marimon has been the co-principal investigator and lead for data dissemination on DC’s Firearm Injury Surveillance Through Emergency Rooms (FASTER) grant.

Constance Kostelac, Ph.D.

Constance Kostelac, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Medical College of Wisconsin Institute for Health and Equity. She earned an undergraduate degree in psychology and criminology and law studies at Marquette University, a master of science in criminology from Florida State University, and an interdisciplinary PhD in justice studies from Arizona State University, which she completed while working as a research supervisor within a law enforcement agency.

She has led research and analysis efforts within the criminal justice system, consulted on projects from Washington, DC to California, and worked in both academic and agency-based research roles. She served for five years as the director of the Bureau of Justice Information and Analysis, the research arm of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, prior to joining MCW.

There, she specialized in data-driven approaches to such issues as measuring, preventing or controlling crime, measuring specific program outcomes and impact, and evidence-based decision making across the justice system, including a focus on legal and evidence-based pretrial practices.

Devon B. Adams, JM

Devon B. Adams, JM, is Deputy Director of Policy at the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice. She previously served as Chief of Criminal Justice Data Improvement Programs at BJS.

Roger Przybylski

Roger Przybylski has served as research director for the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) since May 2017. Mr. Przybylski also is a consultant and founder of RKC Group, a company that provides applied research, program evaluation and related training and technical assistance services to organizations working on public safety issues. Prior to forming RKC Group in 1997, Mr. Przybylski was associate director for the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (the Illinois agency that statutorily serves as the SAA and SAC), where he directed the agency’s research division and served as the Illinois SAC Director. He also previously served as coordinator of research for the Chicago Police Department, the nation’s second largest local law enforcement agency. Mr. Przybylski is a past president of JRSA and founder and past chairman of the American Evaluation Association’s crime and justice interest group. He has been an adjunct faculty member at Loyola University-Chicago, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and Michigan State University. He also has served as an advisor/consultant for the Council on Criminal Justice Task Force on Long Sentences and as staff to the Governor’s Task Force on Crime and Corrections in Illinois, the Illinois Legislative Committee on Juvenile Justice, and the Governor’s Commission on Gangs in Illinois. Over his 40-year career, Mr. Przybylski has worked as a consultant in 46 states on issues ranging from violence prevention to reentry reform. His publications include Implementing Evidence-Based Practices; What Works: Effective Recidivism Reduction and Risk-Focused Prevention Programs; and The Public Safety Impact of Long Sentences.

Chris Carney

Chris Carney is DNA Investigative Support Database Supervisor, Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He has more than 26 years of forensic experience, including an extensive knowledge of the information technology systems supporting DNA Databasing laboratories.

Philip Simmers

Philip Simmers is CODIS Unit Manager and the State CODIS Administrator, Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory. Philip led the Louisiana contingent of the FBI’s Rapid DNA Pilot Implementation Committee. He is a member of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors and the Louisiana Association of Forensic Scientists, and currently serves as an invited guest at the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods.

Douglas Hares

Douglas Hares is the Rapid DNA Implementation Program Advisor for the FBI’s Biometric Analysis Section. He joined the DNA Analysis Unit II of the FBI Laboratory in 2000 as a Forensic Examiner. In 2006, Dr. Hares transferred to the CODIS Unit where he managed the National DNA Database for over 13 years.

Shaun M. Gann, Ph.D.

Shaun Gann joined JRSA in May 2022 as a Research Associate. He received his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati in 2017 and his M.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2010. Prior to joining JRSA, he served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Boise State University and as a Parole Officer with the Arkansas Department of Community Corrections. He is the coauthor of two books: Correctional Assessment, Casework, and Counseling and Constitutional Rights of Prisoners. His recent research has appeared in Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, Journal of Crime and Justice, Journal of Developmental and Life Course Criminology, Journal of Juvenile Justice, and Journal of Criminal Justice Education.

Methodologies: Causal inference; Treatment effect estimation; Data collection and coding; Experimental and quasi-experimental designs; Longitudinal data analysis; Program evaluation

Research areas: Juvenile court decision-making; racial and ethnic disparities; adolescent development; courts and sentencing; correctional law and policy; parole and reentry; constitutional law; developmental criminology

Jason A. “Jay” Zimmerman, CPSC, CRE, CPRP

Jay is a native of Appalachia, a US Army Combat Veteran, serving as a Combat Medic with the 1st /505th Parachute Infantry Brigade. He is a husband and father to 2 girls 18 and 16 . He has served for the last decade plus as a Peer in the VA Healthcare System. Jay is a nationally respected speaker regarding improving understanding of Veterans’ experiences and care needs. Over the years, Jay has had the opportunity to serve in various roles assisting in the evolution of Peer Services serving on numerous VA national work groups, committees, he is a nationally published subject matter expert in the delivery of peer services, and currently serves as a Supervisory Peer Specialist with the Peer Support Outreach Center – Veterans Crisis Line. He has served several details to VA Central Oﬃce – Suicide Prevention Oﬃce, ﬁlling the role of the Lethal Means Reduction Veteran SME. Most recently Jay served as a member of the Presidential workgroup PREVENTS as a SME on both Lethal Means as well as community engagement and partnerships.

Cathryn Nacario, RN, MHA

Cathryn Nacario, RN, MHA, is Secretary of the NAMI Board of Directors and the CEO of NAMI San Diego and Imperial Counties. Nacario has dedicated her work with NAMI San Diego to growing the organization to further serve the communities of San Diego and Imperial Counties and to increase access and early intervention for all with mental health needs. She has been named one of San Diego Business Journal’s Top 500 Most Influential Business Leaders in San Diego County and has earned a significant media and podcast presence on mental health. She has previously served as the Immediate Past President for the Mental Health Contractors Association, on the Chair for the PERT (CIT) Advisory Committee, as a Board member for the Special Needs Trust Foundation, the Board Secretary for Restoring Citizens, a founding member of San Diego County Board of Supervisors Workforce Steering Committee and a member of the Hospital Association of San Diego & Imperial Counties.

Catherine Barber, MPA

Catherine Barber, MPA, is a senior researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health’s Injury Research Center where she led the effort to design and test the pilot for the CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System. Her expertise is in designing and evaluating injury surveillance systems and using their data for prevention. She is the founding director of Means Matter, a project to disseminate research and interventions aimed at reducing a suicidal person’s access to highly lethal suicide methods. Barber was the lead author with Elaine Frank on the original CALM-Online (Counseling on Access to Lethal Means), produced with SPRC, and she was one of the originators of the Gun Shop Project, a novel approach to bringing firearm retailers, instructors, and other firearm stakeholders into the suicide prevention field. She is the recipient of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Allies in Action Lifetime Achievement Award.

David King

David King was appointed Executive Director of the San Diego Imperial Valley HIDTA in February, 2017 after 28 years of service with the California Department of Justice/Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (DOJ/BNE) and the San Diego Harbor Police Department. Mr. King is a graduate of the University of San Diego with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Political Science and he attended the FBI National Academy (FBINA) 240th Session in Quantico, Virginia.

Mr. King began his law enforcement career with the San Diego Harbor Police Department where he worked a variety of patrol assignments before being selected as the first task force officer in the department’s history to investigate narcotic and bulk currency smuggling at the San Diego International Airport as well as maritime and parcel interdiction cases. Mr. King received state and federal recognition when he was named by Harbor Police, Peace Officer of the Year, in 1995 by the San Diego Peace Officers Association.

Mr. King was hired by the California Department of Justice/Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement in 1997 where he was assigned to the clandestine laboratory team, special operations and supervision of multi-agency task forces. Mr. King was promoted to Special Agent in Charge of the Imperial Valley Law Enforcement Coordination Center (IV-LECC) in 2005 where he expanded wire intercept capabilities for law enforcement agencies combating drug trafficking organizations operating along the U.S./Mexico Border.

During Mr. King’s tenure with the California Department of Justice he served as Senior Special Agent in Charge of regional offices located in San Diego, Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles before retiring as the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force (L.A. IMPACT) comprised of 50 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and is credited with being the largest domestic task force in the United States. During Mr. King’s tenure at L.A. IMPACT, his teams were the recipient of three national HIDTA Awards and he is the recipient of the California Attorney General’s Award for Excellence as a Team.

Simone Greene

Simone Greene serves as a senior program manager for the NCJA Center for Justice Planning. In her role, she provides program management support to a portfolio of programs including the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG), the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program (Byrne SCIP) and the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI). Simone provides technical assistance to state administering agencies, local criminal justice advisory boards and councils in the development of comprehensive strategic plans and the implementation of evidence-based programs and practices. Simone brings many years of project management experience in the behavioral health and criminal justice sectors.

Prior to joining NCJA, Simone was the director of stakeholder engagement for the Addiction Policy Forum (APF), a national non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating addiction as a major health condition. During her tenure with APF, Simone helped state and local jurisdictions with strategic planning, identified and highlighted best practices and engaged with practitioners and stakeholders. Previously, Simone has provided project management support to programs related to trauma-informed care and sexual safety in corrections and crime prevention.

Simone received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Wesleyan University and her master’s degree in Forensic and Legal Psychology from Marymount University.

Dr. Craig D. Uchida

Dr. Craig D. Uchida is the President and Founder of Justice & Security Strategies, Inc. (JSS), a consulting firm that specializes in criminal justice, law enforcement, homeland security, children and youth violence, public health, and public policy. At JSS he oversees contracts and grants with cities, counties, criminal justice agencies, foundations, and foreign nations.

As an educator, Dr. Uchida has taught courses at the Naval Post-Graduate School’s Program in Homeland Security in Monterey, CA and was a professor at the University of Maryland. He was the Senior Advisor to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service where he revised the entire training curriculum for this 7,300-officer department.

As a public policy administrator, Dr. Uchida was a senior executive within the US Department of Justice. He is the former Assistant Director for Grants Administration and Senior Policy Adviser for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office). As the Assistant Director for Grants Administration he and his staff were responsible for developing and implementing the grant making process, making grant awards, and grant monitoring. When he left the COPS Office he had provided $3.4 billion to over 9,000 law enforcement agencies for over 65,000 officers. His efforts at the COPS Office resulted in two major US Department of Justice Awards – the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award in 1995 and the JustWorks Award for innovation in government in 1997.

As a criminologist, Dr. Uchida has studied violent crime, policing, and a variety of programs in the criminal justice system. He is the author of numerous journal articles, government publications, and monographs. He is the co-editor of two books on drug enforcement and police innovation and is co-author of a book that assessed the security of the Nation’s dams, published by the National Academy of Sciences. His most recent book is, Community, Crime Control, and Collective Efficacy: Neighborhoods and Crime in Miami. His most recent journal articles include studies of body-worn cameras (in Criminology), focused deterrence (in Police Quarterly), and use of force (in the Criminal Justice Policy Review). His research and policy interests include police use of force, body-worn

cameras, data-driven policing, crime analysis in policing and prosecutor offices, and technology in criminal justice.

Recently, Dr. Uchida conducted research and evaluations in the Los Angeles, Denver, and Baltimore Police Departments. Dr. Uchida received his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University at Albany and holds two Masters degrees, one in Criminal Justice and one in American History.

Jack Reed

Jack Reed is the research director with the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice’s Office of Research and Statistics. He joined the Division in 2014 and has been the research director since March 2022. He came to the Division bringing experience in data analysis, research design, and project evaluation of specialty courts, community corrections programs, and jail-based treatment. Jack was originally tasked with analyzing the impacts of marijuana legalization on law enforcement, juveniles, public health, education, impaired driving, and diversion to other markets. He is also an adjunct professor in the Criminal Justice Program at the University of Colorado, Denver. Jack has a B.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Nevada, Reno and an M.A. in Criminal Justice from the University at Albany, State University of New York.

Ken Sanchagrin

Ken Sanchagrin has been the Executive Director of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission since 2020. As Director, he is responsible for guiding the Commission’s research agenda and oversees the awarding of over $80 million in grant funding each biennium. He has also been involved in the passage of public safety legislation in Oregon related to pretrial reform, restorative justice, and illegal marijuana cultivation, and he currently serves on the board of the National Association of Sentencing Commissions. Ken originally joined the Commission in 2018 as its Director of Research, managing the implementation of the Oregon Statistical Transparency of Policing (STOP) data collection program and overseeing the creation of numerous statistical reports concerning sentencing, recidivism, and other criminal justice system policy issues in Oregon. Prior to joining the Commission, Ken was an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Appalachian State University, where he taught courses in criminology, criminal punishment, law, and statistics. He also authored peer reviewed journal articles on topics such as juvenile delinquency, the economic impact of prison building, and statistical methods. Originally from southern Appalachia, he has a PhD and master’s degree in sociology from the University of Iowa, a juris doctor degree from Michigan State University, and a BA in history from the College of Charleston.

Sam Lewis

Sam Lewis is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice Task Force on Long Sentences and Executive Director of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC). ARC works to end mass incarceration in California, empowering formerly and currently incarcerated people to thrive by providing a support network, comprehensive reentry services, and opportunities to advocate for policy change. Through our grassroots policy advocacy, we are dedicated to transforming the criminal justice system so that it is more just and equitable for all people.

A former life prisoner, Lewis understands the obstacles and challenges faced by reentering individuals and has focused his career on easing that transition. Prior to his current role with ARC, he served as the Director of Inside Programs, and in 2017 created the Hope And Redemption Team (HART), a first-of-its kind initiative that engages formerly incarcerated staff to lead rehabilitative programs in California prisons and prepare participants for successful reentry. Lewis began transforming himself in prison through various rehabilitative programs, including the Alternatives to Violence (AVP) program, Victims Offender’s Education Group, and higher education. Despite denied parole eight times, Lewis persevered. He earned two Associate Degrees while incarcerated, in Business Management and Paralegal Studies, and was ultimately granted parole in 2012. After his release, Lewis completed additional studies and received a degree from Indiana Institute of Technology, graduating Magna Cum Laude. He worked with Friends Outside Los Angeles County as a Job Specialist, Case Manager, Employment Programs Supervisor, and Project Director, roles that reinforced his commitment to creating opportunities for formerly incarcerated men and women as they transition back into society. In 2018, Lewis received a Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award and an Uncommon Law Uncommon Heroes award. He has served on the State Steering Committee for AVP and the California Board of State and Community Corrections Executive Steering Committee for California Violence, Intervention, and Prevention (CVIP). He is currently a member of the Los Angeles Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Employment Equity. Lewis’ passion as an advocate pushes him to continuously seek improvement for himself as he strongly encourages others to live non-violent lives.

Derek Veitenheimer

Derek Veitenheimer is Director of Research and Statistics for SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics. In this role he directs SEARCH research and analytics projects, including National Incident-Based Reporting System and Computerized Criminal History analytics.

Before joining SEARCH in 2023, Mr. Veitenheimer had 17 years of experience with the Wisconsin criminal justice system, including managerial and direct experience of its large-scale data collection programs, including Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR), National Incident-Based Reporting (NIBRS), and Use-of-Force. Most recently, he was Director of the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Information and Analysis, which supports policy and data-driven decision making through criminal justice research, analysis, and program evaluation. He led efforts to enhance and improve the functioning of the state’s UCR program and its Statistical Analysis Center, and worked with state criminal justice partners to collect and compile data for research and analysis.

Mr. Veitenheimer’s career began at the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance in positions ranging from Program and Planning Analyst, Senior IS Business Automation Specialist, and Program and Policy Supervisor. In these roles, he supported UCR data collection, data curation, and statistical analysis; developed and conducted crime reporting and data collection training; provided expert guidance on the utility of statewide criminal justice data to law enforcement, legislative, media, and public audiences; and managed the collection of both summary-based and incident-based crime reporting.

He also led the development of Wisconsin’s Traffic Stop Data Collection, Use-of-Force Data Collection, and Search Warrant Data Collection programs.

Mr. Veitenheimer previously served as an executive board member and president of the Association of State Uniform Crime Reporting Programs (ASUCRP), as chair of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Subcommittee, and as a member of the FBI’s National Use-of-Force Task Force, and the Data Sharing Subcommittee of Wisconsin’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.

He has a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy and Administration, with an emphasis on Criminal Justice Administration, from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Jasmine Quintana

Jasmine Quintana is Policy Analyst for Corrections and Reentry for the CSG Justice Center. She provides policy research and development to reduce structural barriers to economic opportunities for people with arrest and conviction records. Prior to joining the CSG Justice Center, Jasmine worked with the Vera Institute of Justice supporting postsecondary education expansion in prisons through the Second Chance Pell Initiative and with REDF conducting research on workforce best practices for employment social enterprises that primarily serve formerly incarcerated individuals and individuals with severe mental health conditions. Jasmine holds an MSW specializing in macro social work from the University of Southern California and received a BA in comparative ethnic studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Joshua Gaines

Joshua Gaines is Project Manager for Corrections and Reentry for the CSG Justice Center. He focuses on issues involving the collateral consequences of criminal conviction, barriers to work, and relief from the long-term impacts of a criminal record. He previously served as the deputy director of the Collateral Consequences Resource Center, worked extensively on the Restoration of Rights Project, and provided counsel for federal pardon applicants. Josh received his BA in sociology from North Carolina State University and his JD from the Washington College of Law at American University.

Chidi Umez

Chidi Umez is Deputy Program Director for Corrections and Reentry for the CSG Justice Center. She provides direction and support for projects that reduce policy barriers to economic opportunity for people with criminal records. Projects in this portfolio address the impact of a criminal record on job participation, occupational licensing, and business engagement. Prior to joining the CSG Justice Center, Chidi served as a court attorney in the New York Civil Supreme Court and as an indigent defense attorney in Harris County, Texas. She received a BA in English and corporate communications from the University of Houston and a JD from Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

Colonel Michael Snyders

Colonel Michael Snyders is National Coordinator of the Domestic Highway Enforcement Initiative, National HIDTA Assistance Center. Colonel Snyders is retired as a 25-year veteran of the Illinois State Police where he served as Colonel over the Division of Operations. He helped to create the first Illinois State Police intelligence fusion center.

Snyders is recognized as an international expert in the field of police patrol supervision and highway drug interdiction. He has provided assistance and training to agencies at locations throughout the United States, Canada, Northern Ireland, Poland, Albania and Peru. In August of 2010, Michael was selected to serve as a coordinator for the United States Domestic Highway Enforcement strategy of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program.

Colonel Snyders chaired and participated in effective law enforcement oversight boards of directors and received the El Paso Intelligence Center Director’s Award as well as a Lifetime Achievement award from the Federal Highway Administration. He is a 1982 graduate of Illinois State University with a bachelor’s degree in biology and the Police Executive Researcher Forum in 2008. Colonel Snyders worked as a pharmaceutical representative for Merck Pharmaceutical Company prior to his employment with the Illinois State Police. He is an active private pilot and serves as an officer in a local flying club. As a morning runner, he recently completed his 10th marathon.

Dean M. Kueter, Jr.

Dean M. Kueter, Jr. is Vice President of Government Relations, Brooks Bawden Moore, LLC. He joined BBM in April 2022 after serving at the U.S. Department of Justice for a dozen years, most recently advising two Attorneys General on law enforcement matters.

In 2019, Attorney General William P. Barr appointed Dean as the Executive Director of the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, which conducted the first comprehensive review of the criminal justice system in more than 50 years. The Commission examined all aspects of the system and after a year of work produced a report with more than 150 recommendations. Prior to his appointment to lead the Commission, Dean established the State and Local Law Enforcement Coordination Section, a new division within the Department of Justice that reported to the Attorney General.

Before establishing the State and Local Law Enforcement Coordination Section, Dean was Chief of Intergovernmental Affairs at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives (ATF). He also has served as ATF’s Chief of Legislative Affairs. Prior to joining ATF, Dean held two senior positions at the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office). He was Chief of Staff and prior to that, he was the Assistant Director for External Affairs.

Prior to his Executive Branch service, Dean served as a senior advisor at Lafayette Group, a public safety consulting firm, where he was the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCC) Washington representative. Before joining Lafayette Group, Dean spent nearly 10 years as the Director of Government Affairs at the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) where he represented the interests of our nation’s more than 3,000 elected sheriffs. During his time at NSA, Dean authored two bills that became law, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act and the Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act.

Dean has Capitol Hill, campaign, and election experience. He spent twelve years as a Chief Election Judge in Montgomery County, Maryland. He worked in the office of U.S. Representative Peter Blute where he was responsible for law enforcement and public safety issues and early in his career, he worked on three congressional campaigns and one ballot referendum.

Dean is a graduate of Boston College where he studied political science and philosophy.

Charles Vear, MPH

Charles R. Vear is a Research Analyst and Biostatistician in the Department of Institute for Health and Equity, Medical College of Wisconsin.

Joshua E. Parish

Joshua E. Parish is Assistant Chief of the Milwaukee Fire Department and heads its Bureau of EMS, Training and Education (BETE), which manages the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Division, the Training Division, and the MFD’s Health and Safety Office.

The management of the EMS Division includes the research, origination and development of EMS procedures, training and continuous quality improvement. The Health & Safety office is responsible for research, recommending new procedures and adjusting current ones to alleviate recurring, preventable injuries. The Training Division also manages the community relations functions of the MFD, in addition to the professional development training of all sworn MFD members at all ranks.

JoAnn Garrison

JoAnn Garrison began her career with the FBI in 1997 as a fingerprint examiner. She joined the National Instant Background Check System (NICS) in 2002. With the NICS Section she has served as a Legal Instruments Examiner and Region Coordinator, and she is currently a Liaison Specialist assigned to the NICS Business Unit (NBU). In that capacity, Garrison has traveled throughout the country, providing training, assistance and support on NICS, federal prohibitions for firearm purchases and the importance of information sharing to law enforcement and criminal justice agencies. Currently she focuses on providing support to federal firearm licensees (FFLs) who utilize the NICS to perform firearm background checks for firearms purchases. Over the span of her career she has spoken to a wide variety of audiences, including judges, court personnel, law enforcement agencies, tribal entities, prosecutorial entities and FFLs, at conferences and gatherings throughout the United States.

Samuel Gonzales

Samuel Gonzales is the newest member of Georgia’s Statistical Analysis Center staff. He is the analyst responsible for policy research to support the Victim Services Division of CJCC. He also serves as a liaison and contract manager to Applied Research Services for its work to create a Violent Repeat Offender List under the Northern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney’s 2014 Project Safe Neighborhood initiative. Mr. Gonzales also works with a collaborative in Clayton County, Georgia, to evaluate an initiative to provide prevention, education, and interventions for youth at risk of commercial sexual exploitation.

Before joining Georgia’s SAC in December of 2014, Mr. Gonzales worked as an organizer with community and labor organizations that dealt with both neighborhood and workplace policy issues. Some of his campaigns geared towards criminal justice focused on ending crime associated with blighted neighborhoods in West Atlanta; a campaign to end gun violence in the Southside of Chicago; and initiatives to identify and address safety concerns at correctional facilities in Kentucky, Kansas, and Georgia. Mr. Gonzales has an M.A. in economics from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University with concentrations in program evaluation and labor economics. He has a strong background in econometric evaluation for the social sciences, data management, and public policy.

Thomas Strauss

Thomas Strauss is Director and Principal Research Analyst at the Idaho Statistical Analysis Center, Planning, Grants, and Research Department, Idaho State Police.

He is an experienced researcher and data analyst in the field of criminal justice.

homas & the team in the ISP Planning, Grants, & Research Section work on a variety of projects, including drug prevention & substance abuse efforts, identifying gaps in necessary services, & mental health challenges facing communities across Idaho. Their work has been vital in the development & implementation of programs across our state that are having long term, positive impacts in communities & on Idaho families.

Kourtnie Rodgers

Kourtnie Rodgers is a Senior Research Analyst in the Idaho Statistical Analysis Center, Planning Grants and Research Department, Idaho State Police.

Greg Willmore

Greg Willmore is Director of the Bureau of Criminal Identification, Utah Department of Public Safety. The Utah BCI is responsible for:

Entering, updating, and maintaining data in the Utah Computerized Criminal History (UCCH) file for all submitted criminal arrests and the outcome of these arrests.
Determining eligibility for expungements and issuing eligibility certificates.
Employment/licensing background checks for qualifying entities.
Verifying all fingerprints that are submitted to BCI for criminal purposes or as part of an employment or licensing application process.
Maintaining a computerized fingerprint database.
Operating a 24x7x365 help line for all criminal justice agencies statewide and across the country.
Auditing agencies for compliance with state and federal laws, rules, and guidelines.
Gathering and compiling of statewide statistics and producing the annual Crime in Utah (CIU) report.
Managing Missing Person Clearing House and AMBER Alert for Utah.
Assisting citizens wishing to review or challenge their own Utah criminal record.
Administering Concealed Firearm Permit (CFP), Private Investigator, and Bail Enforcement Agent licenses.
Conducting background checks on individuals wishing to purchase a firearm.

He is Utah’s governor-appointed representative for the State of Utah. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the Western Identification Index.

Erin Henry

Erin Henry is Division Director, Information Services, in the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and has been a SEARCH Member since her appointment by Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt in June 2021. The Information Services Division maintains the state’s criminal history repository, conducts record searches for public and criminal justice agencies, and reports crime data, among other responsibilities. She serves on the SEARCH Board of Directors.

P. Jeffrey Brantingham, Ph.D.

Dr. P. Jeffrey Brantingham is a professor of Anthropology at the University of California-Los Angeles. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona.

His research focuses on modeling and measuring the fundamental dynamics of crime patterns using cutting-edge mathematical methods. His goal is to translate these models into practical tools for use by police and communities in combating crime.

Jessica Reichert

Jessica Reichert is a Senior Research Scientist and Manager of the Center for Justice Research and Evaluation at the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (Illinois Statistical Analysis Center). She leads a research team that conducts research studies and evaluations on justice-related topics. Her research work has been featured in over 100 publications. She received the Justice Research and Statistics Association’s national publication award in 2010 and 2021 for outstanding research. She taught many years at Loyola University Chicago and prior to joining ICJIA worked at the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. She earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Bradley University and master’s degree in criminal justice from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Jeffrey Sedgwick

Jeffrey Sedgwick joined JRSA as Executive Director in January 2015, having previously served as Director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). Dr. Sedgwick is responsible for the overall management of JRSA, including administrative functions, program development and implementation, and liaison to other national criminal justice organizations. He provides staff support to JRSA’s Executive Committee as well as to the Association’s members.

Dr. Sedgwick received his M.A.P.A. in Public Administration and Public Policy and his Ph.D. in Government and Public Affairs from the University of Virginia. He is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where he taught multiple courses including policy analysis and evaluation and public policy. Dr. Sedgwick also co-founded the consulting firm Keswick Advisors which aides in developing program outcome and performance measures for a range of projects including an evaluation of youth crime prevention programs funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).

He is an appointed At-Large Member of the SEARCH Membership Group and and serves on its Board of Directors.

David J. Roberts

Mr. David J. Roberts is Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SEARCH Group, Incorporated. He has extensive experience supporting justice information technology (IT) policy, planning, and research in state and federal governments, nonprofit organizations, and private industry.

Mr. Roberts supports the SEARCH Membership Group of Governor-appointed representatives and SEARCH’s business lines in criminal history law and policy, justice information sharing, and cybercrime and digital evidence training and technical assistance. Mr. Roberts also serves as Executive Director/CEO of the Open Justice Broker Consortium (OJBC), which functions as the technical development arm of SEARCH, and provides software and data engineering services for state and local jurisdictions throughout the nation. He represents SEARCH before various branches and levels of government, including the U.S. Congress and the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, with partner criminal justice and public safety associations, and with private industry.

Mr. Roberts re-joined SEARCH as Executive Director/CEO in 2017, having previously served 17-years as Deputy Executive Director (1986–2002). Mr. Roberts has also served as Director for National Crime Statistics Exchange (NCS-X) Technical Assistance and Outreach at the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics; as Senior Program Manager of the Technology Center at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP); as Principal of Global Justice Consulting; as Director of the Global Justice & Public Safety Practice for Unisys Corporation; and as Director of the Center for Criminal Justice Research, Wyoming Attorney General’s Office.

Mr. Roberts holds graduate degrees in criminal justice from the State University of New York at Albany and Oklahoma City University.

Fernando Rejón

Fernando Rejón serves as executive director after building the Urban Peace Institute agenda for over a decade. He leads UPI efforts to transform systems and the lives of individuals to create community peace and safety and end the devastating cycle of mass incarceration. UPI works to reshape systems and develop safety and health strategies through national technical assistance and training, community lawyering services to end gang profiling and ensure police accountability, leading coalitions for justice reform and policy advocacy, shaping relationship-based policing approaches, and implementing place-based initiatives to develop coalitions of leaders to reimagine public safety.

In 2008, he began his work to build the Urban Peace Academy as a platform to train gang intervention/street outreach workers, law enforcement, community stakeholders, and public officials on implementing violence reduction strategies focused on redefining community safety and health. Over the years, he has trained thousands of leaders nationally on the role of gang intervention and the development of non-traditional community safety strategies. He has trained and advised law enforcement agencies across the country on creating safety and reducing violence through innovative policing strategies that increase public trust and leverage investment in building neighborhood-level leadership.

In 2019, he co-created the National Street Outreach Partnership as a platform for frontline intervention organizations and advocates dedicated to shaping and strengthening the field of violence reduction to serve the most violence-impacted communities in the nation. He has emerged as a national thought leader on addressing complex issues around neighborhood violence, policing, and policy development. His work has been recognized nationally and internationally as an example of how sustained investment in mission-driven safety strategies generate long-term transformative change.

Fernando began his career as a trained community organizer with over 18 years’ experience working in the non-profit sector. He has extensive experience in program development, community-based research and analysis, training and leadership development, and organizing and coalition building. He has worked as a counselor for youth on juvenile probation, organized for environmental justice in impacted communities of color, and worked to build bridges between indigenous communities in México and organizers of color in the United States to fight for justice.

He is a current and founding advisory board member of the National Gang Conference in Los Angeles and has presented at number of universities such as UCLA, NYU Law School, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Cal State Northridge, and Claremont McKenna College on gangs, violence reduction, and non-adversarial policing strategies. He holds a B.A. in Sociology and Communication Studies from the University of San Diego, M.A. in Chican@ Studies from California State University, Northridge, and certificate from the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders.

Paul Carrillo

Paul Carrillo is the vice president of Giffords Center for Violence Intervention. He was raised in Southeast Los Angeles in an environment with gangs, drugs, and gun violence. In 2001, he began his career as a volunteer for a hospital-based violence intervention program, and in 2005 he co-founded Southern California Crossroads, a nonprofit organization that provides violence prevention and intervention services throughout the greater Los Angeles region. In 2012, Paul co-founded the national Gang Violence Prevention and Intervention Conference, which brought over 800 practitioners in the field of community violence together to share best practice approaches to violence. In addition, Paul has also worked as a consultant on community violence in a number of places around the world, including Guatemala, London, the Dominican Republic, Ireland, Tunisia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and El Salvador.

Joseph A. Cortez

Joseph A. Cortez is a former ranking law enforcement official in Southern California where he held numerous leadership roles and led numerous complex initiatives. He is the Vice-Chair of the Police Research Advancement Section for the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), an adjunct Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Southern California, and a law enforcement consultant. Joseph has provided expert testimony to several local, state, and federal commissions on law enforcement training and education and continues to work with agencies across the nation to help develop culture and capacity through learning and development.

Joseph earned his doctorate in education from the University of Southern California, where he conducted research on the juvenile justice system. His research provided a benchmark for policy development as well as the creation of curriculum for advanced police officer training. He holds a BS in criminal justice from Upper Iowa University and a MA is emergency management & homeland security from Arizona State University. Joseph is also a decorated combat veteran who is associated with many veteran groups.

Jaime Jimenez

Jaime Jimenez is Deputy Chief and Executive Officer (XO) in the Office of the Chief of the San Jose, CA Police Department.

Jimenez has been with the San Jose Police Department for 26 years. He currently oversees Research & Development, Fiscal, Permits, Cannabis Regulation, Secondary Employment, and the Crime Data Intelligence Center.

Deputy Chief Jimenez coordinates a workgroup that is tasked with working on policy/programs to address persons suffering from mental health and substance abuse to provide Alternatives to Incarceration when possible.

Over his SJPD career, he has had responsibilities in Patrol, Field Training, Special Operations (SWAT), Investigations (Narcotics, Homicide, Robbery, and Sexual Assaults), and Internal Affairs. He holds a master’s degree in Law Enforcement and Public Safety Leadership from the University of San Diego.

Capt. Carlos Acosta

Captain Carlos Acosta is a 24 year veteran with the San Jose, CA Police Department. He currently oversees the Central Division and supervises the Community Policing Officers and Mobile Crisis Response Team. He is an Academy Instructor and teaches Spanish for Law Enforcement. As a Lieutenant, Acosta was assigned to the Department’s Bureau of Investigations, Financial Crimes Division and Patrol Division. As a Sergeant, he was assigned to the Field Training Program, Patrol Division and Bureau of Administration Unit, Academy Supervisor. As an Officer, Acosta served in the Patrol Division, Detective in the Narcotics Covert Investigations Unit, Officer in the Special Operations, Violent Crimes Enforcement Team, Internal Affairs Unit Investigator and Field Training Officer.

Captain Acosta earned a master’s degree in Public Leadership in Law Enforcement from the University of San Diego and a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice Management from Union Institute and University.

Ty Burford

Ty Burford is Deputy Chief of the Long (CA) Police Department. Deputy Chief Burford became a police officer in 1996 and was promoted to Sergeant in 2012, Lieutenant in 2017, and Commander in 2020. Deputy Chief Burford held various assignments throughout his career, including Community Policing, Juvenile Investigations, Field Training Officer Program, Recruitment, Internal Affairs, Support Bureau Office, Special Investigations Division, and he has worked in all patrol divisions in multiple ranks. Prior to his ascension to Deputy Chief, he most recently worked as the West Patrol Division Commander. Deputy Chief Burford is a proud graduate of Long Beach Polytechnic High School, where he currently coaches football focusing on mentorship and student-athlete development. Deputy Chief Burford was also instrumental in the coordination of our first-ever Community Police Academy, which was specially hosted for local area high school athletes. He is a graduate of the Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute, USC’s Delinquency Control Institute, and Leadership Long Beach Class of 2013.

Scott McLaren

Scott McLaren is the Deputy Director of the Delaware Criminal Justice Council. He has served in that capacity for the past 10 years. He retired after 25 years of service from the New Castle County Police Department at the rank of Colonel, and Director of Public Safety where he was responsible for all police, paramedics, communications and emergency management. He also served as a municipal police chief and the Director of Public Safety/law enforcement for Delaware Technical Community College, a statewide higher education institution.

Deputy Director McLaren holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Wilmington College and a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Wilmington University. He completed training at the FBI National Academy in 2000 and the Police Executive Research Forum in Boston in 2003; he also served on the FEMA National Advisory Board Region III district.

In 1993, Deputy Director McLaren was named Detective of the Year by the state of Delaware for his work in solving a high-profile ax murder in seven days. In 1997, the International Association of Chiefs of Police presented him its very first annual Civil Rights Investigations award for his role as chief investigator for the first-ever federal prosecution of a hate crime in Delaware. Currently, Deputy Director McLaren serves on the Board of Directors of the National Criminal Justice Association, in which he has been an active member for the past 10 years.

Richard Rosenfeld

Richard Rosenfeld, Founders Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, is an expert in crime statistics, U.S. crime trends and criminal justice policy.

Rosenfeld served as the criminologist in residence for the City of St. Louis Department of Public Safety and St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. He was a professor at Skidmore College, the chair of the National Academy of Sciences Roundtable on Understanding Crime Trends and the president of the American Society of Criminology. He currently serves on the Science Advisory Board of the Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice.

Rosenfeld has published dozens of articles and chapters in scholarly journals as well as co-authored and co-edited books including Crime and the American Dream, Crime and the Economy, Economics and Youth Violence:Crime, Disadvantage, and Community and Contemporary Issues in Criminological Theory and Research: The Role of Social Institutions.

Akua Amaning

Akua Amaning is the director for Criminal Justice Reform at American Progress. In her current role, she works to advance progressive policy solutions that will ensure a more equitable justice system, while providing protections and opportunities for those who have been directly affected by the criminal justice system. Prior to joining American Progress, Amaning served as the legislative fellow for U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), where she worked on a number of legislative and policy matters under the member’s House Judiciary Committee portfolio. She also served as the Nancy Hale Social Policy Fellow at Third Way, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C., where she worked in several issue areas, including immigration and policing reform.

Amaning holds a Master of Law from American University’s Washington College of Law and a J.D. from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. She is also a proud alumna of the University of Miami, where she graduated with a B.A. in English literature.

Katie Svoboda-Kindle

Katie Svoboda-Kindle is Senior Attorney the Employment Unit at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. Ms. Svoboda-Kindle represents clients facing a variety of employment issues, from workplace discrimination to Childline Registry appeals, with a special focus on criminal record barriers to employment. Ms. Svoboda-Kindle supports work to break down these barriers systemically by expanding and implementing Clean Slate and other laws, and by sharing out best practices nationally through the National Record Clearing Project.

Before joining CLS in January 2019, Ms. Svoboda-Kindle served as an assistant public defender for 7 years at the Miami Dade Public Defender’s Office. During her time there, Ms. Svoboda-Kindle handled cases ranging from misdemeanors to murder, tried 35 cases before a jury, filed over 500 motions and conducted over 600 depositions. Ms. Svoboda-Kindle also worked in a supervisory role over new attorneys, providing training and overseeing performance.

Ms. Svoboda-Kindle attended law school at New York University School of Law, where she was a member of the Moot Court Board, Competitions Division. She earned her J.D. cum laude in 2011. She graduated from Colgate University with honors, summa cum laude in 2007.

Noella Sudbury, J.D.

Noella is a licensed Utah attorney with over a decade of experience in criminal law, policy, and data-driven justice reform. While serving as a Senior Policy Advisor to Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, Noella led the successful campaign to pass Utah’s Clean Slate law, which automates the expungement process for more than 450,000 Utahns. Noella has served on the National Clean Slate Initiative Steering Committee and has provided technical assistance to other state campaigns to pass automatic clearance. Noella has received several honors and awards for her public service, including being selected as Utah Business Magazine’s 2019 Woman of the Year and being honored with the 2022 Distinguished Service Award from the Utah State Bar. In her spare time, Noella enjoys the outdoors and spending time with her two girls.

Noella Sudbury is the owner of Sudbury Consulting, LLC and has more than ten years of experience in criminal law, data-driven policy, legislative strategy, and project management.

Noella graduated magna cum laude from the University of Utah in 2006, with degrees in Political Science and Social Justice. In 2009, she earned a J.D. from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. Following law school, Noella clerked for Justice Ronald E. Nehring of the Utah Supreme Court, practiced criminal law in private practice and as a public defender, and served as a Vice President and nationwide manager of the Government Interactions Compliance team at Goldman Sachs.

In 2016, Noella was appointed by Mayor Ben McAdams and the Salt Lake County Council as the Director of the County’s Criminal Justice Advisory Council. She later joined the Mayor’s cabinet as a Senior Policy Advisor on Criminal Justice.

In 2019, Noella led the successful effort that resulted in the passage of HB 431, Utah’s Clean Slate law. With the unanimous passage of this historic law, Utah became only the second state in the nation to automate the criminal record expungement process for misdemeanor offenses.

Noella has received many honors and awards throughout her career, including being honored as the 2019 Woman of the Year, by Utah Business Magazine. In 2018, Noella was recognized as the Young Alumna of the Year by the University of Utah’s College of Law, and given the Citizen Service Award by the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake.

Laura Chavez

Laura Chavez is the Director of Research and Data at the Clean Slate Initiative (CSI). She manages a multi-faceted, data-driven research agenda designed to inform CSI’s advocacy and public education efforts, measure and refine impact, and expand the policy footprint in clearing barriers and increasing opportunities for millions of people with records. She is responsible for curating, managing, and implementing research strategies that advance CSI’s mission while establishing a body of analyses to validate the impact of Clean Slate policy among academics, policymakers, donors, bipartisan allies, and the public.

Dr. Chavez is a proven leader with over a decade of experience in research and data analytics. Prior to joining the Clean Slate Initiative, she served as the Chief of Research and Evaluation for the Alameda County Probation Department. There, she led a team of researchers and data analysts and oversaw program evaluations conducted internally and in partnership with external researchers. In this role, she built the organization’s research and data analytics capacity to address historical racial and ethnic disparities.

Before that, Dr. Chavez was an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia Southern University. She researched various criminal justice issues centered on understanding the role of social inequities in multiple facets of the criminal legal system. She taught courses on gender, race, and crime; research methods; victimology; and social inequalities, and taught one semester in a women’s prison.

Laura holds a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Ph.D. in Sociology from Virginia Tech and has published a book and over thirty research publications, including more than twenty peer-reviewed journal articles. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and enjoys the local scenery, from the mountains to the beach.

Steve Roadcap

Steve Roadcap is a Principal Consulting Manager with LexisNexis Coplogic Solutions responsible for leading multiple statewide Information Technology project teams. Steve has spent 12 years Serving as a Software Engineer and 13 years managing project teams with an expertise in developing statewide solutions for the Law Enforcement community.

Shawn Morrow

Shawn Morrow is the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Louisville Field Division for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Since May 2020, he is responsible for executing ATF’s mission to fight violent crime and regulate the firearms and explosives industries in Kentucky, West Virginia, and the southern District of Indiana.

ATF’s dedicated work force is comprised of Special Agents, Industry Operations Investigators (IOIs), Intelligence Research Specialists, Forensic Auditors, technicians and support staff. ATF’s Louisville Field Division Special Agents combat firearms violence by focusing investigations on armed violent offenders, armed career criminals, criminal groups and gangs, and firearms traffickers. Special Agents work closely with local, state and other federal law enforcement agencies to accomplish this mission. Explosives and arson enforcement is an integral part of ATF’s overall violent crime reduction strategy. ATF’s Louisville Field Division Special Agents combat arson and criminal misuse of explosives crimes by conducting investigations in partnership with local and state fire investigators and bomb squads. IOI’s under SAC Morrow’s leadership regulate over 4,000 federal firearms and explosives licensees. IOIs work to ensure that all firearms and explosives are stored, handled and sold in a safe manner in compliance with federal law and regulations.

SAC Morrow began his law enforcement career in Tennessee in 1997. In 2005, he joined ATF as a Special Agent in the Baltimore Field Division and was assigned to the ATF R.A.G.E task force investigating violent street gangs in the metro Washington, D.C. area. In 2009, he was reassigned to the Nashville Field Division to help start ATF’s Violent Crime Impact Team. In 2013, SAC Morrow joined ATF’s Public and Government Affairs Division where he completed Georgetown University’s Capitol Hill Fellowship Program. He was assigned to the United States House of Representatives before returning to the field as Group Supervisor of Baltimore Group VI, an ATF task force responsible for investigating violent criminal organizations in the city of Baltimore. In 2016, he was assigned to ATF Internal Affairs before being returning to the field as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) of the Washington Field Division in 2017.

SAC Morrow earned a master’s in Professional Studies-Security and Safety Leadership from George Washington University in Washington, D.C and he holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee. He has also completed the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Leaders in Police Organization and leadership training at the United States Army War College. He is currently a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police, West Virginia Chief’s of Police Association, and he has held membership in numerous law enforcement and professional associations. Throughout his career, SAC Morrow has been the recipient

of many awards for merit, outstanding service, and investigative excellence from the United States Attorney General, ATF, federal and state prosecutors, and law enforcement partners in the United Kingdom, Australia, and throughout the United States.

Becki Goggins

Ms. Becki R. Goggins is Director of Law and Policy for SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics. She oversees SEARCH’s consulting practice in the areas of criminal history records, development of laws and policies concerning the use of justice information and protection of privacy, implementation of evidence-based practices, and the use of technology to improve justice information sharing. She manages a specialist team that researches and writes about issues that impact justice information management and policy, organizes conferences and workshops, establishes and supports national task forces, conducts surveys on issues pertinent to criminal record managers, provides policy assistance to justice stakeholders, and works collaboratively with governmental entities and other organizations to improve the quality of justice and public safety.

Before joining SEARCH in 2014, Ms. Goggins worked in the office of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley on a statewide effort to reduce recidivism through improved information exchange between corrections agencies and mental health providers. She also led efforts at Alabama’s health insurance exchange to develop privacy and security policies governing sharing of sensitive health data, and oversaw efforts to implement interagency information exchanges across the state.

Ms. Goggins also served as Division Manager for Alabama’s Uniform Crime Reporting Division and Statistical Analysis Center, where she managed the state’s criminal history repository, crime reporting responsibilities, statistical analysis and research projects, and participated in national data-exchange initiatives, including N-DEx and the CONNECT project. Ms. Goggins frequently served as a peer technical assistance provider and consultant to information sharing projects across the country, sharing lessons learned from solving the same challenges in Alabama.

Prior to Ms. Goggins’ state government service, which began in 2004, she worked for 10 years as Research Director for The Sentencing Institute at Auburn University.

Ms. Goggins has a bachelor’s degree in English and a Master of Public Administration, both from Auburn University.

Mindi TenNapel

Mindi TenNapel serves as Research Coordinator for the Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP) and as Director of the Iowa Statistical Analysis Center. Dr. TenNapel has been working in epidemiological research since 2008 and joined CJJP in 2019. She is responsible for oversight of all research projects at CJJP. Dr. TenNapel has led and conducted program evaluation and outcome projects, correctional policy and forecasting analysis, as well as risk assessment validation. She is the Principal Investigator for the Prison Research Innovation Project (PRIN), which uses community based participatory research to study the culture and climate at the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women. Dr. TenNapel obtained her M.B.A. as well as her M.S. and Ph.D. in Epidemiology with a certificate in biostatistics from the University of Iowa. She serves as Secretary/Treasurer of the Justice Research and Statistics Association’s Executive Committee.

Thaddeus Johnson, Ph.D.

Dr. Thaddeus L. Johnson, a former ranking law enforcement official in Memphis, TN, is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice & Criminology at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. His current research focuses on police policy and innovations, urban violence, crime control, and racially disparate justice outcomes. He is the author or co-author of numerous articles and reports and a book titled Deviance among Physicians: Fraud, Violence, and the Power to Prescribe. In addition to having his research featured in national media outlets, he has written on police reform issues for the popular press and appeared on numerous broadcast radio and TV news programs in the U.S. and Europe. Dr. Johnson is a Senior Fellow for the Council on Criminal Justice.

Dr. Alex Piquero

Having been appointed by President Biden in June 2022, Dr. Alexis R. Piquero serves as head of BJS, leading the agency’s efforts to collect, publish, and disseminate information on crime, victims of crime, people who commit criminal acts, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government. Dr. Piquero is a nationally and internationally recognized criminologist with more than 25 years of experience. His expertise ranges from criminal careers to criminal justice policy and crime prevention to the intersection of race and crime, with a focus on quantitative methodology. Prior to joining BJS, Dr. Piquero served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology as well as Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor at the University of Miami as well as Professor of Criminology at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He has held several academic appointments at the University of Texas at Dallas, University of Maryland College Park, and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Dr. Piquero holds a Ph.D., a master’s degree, and a bachelor’s degree in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Maryland College Park.

Adam Gelb

Adam Gelb has been working for a more just and effective criminal justice system throughout a 35-year career as a journalist, congressional aide, senior state government official, and nonprofit executive. Before launching the Council, Mr. Gelb led the Pew Charitable Trusts’ criminal justice work, helping 35 states adopt sentencing and corrections reforms. He has staffed the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, led development of public safety initiatives for governors in Georgia and Maryland, and covered crime as a reporter in Atlanta.

Marshall Clement

Marshall Clement provides strategic leadership across the breadth of the CSG Justice Center’s policy and programmatic work to increase public safety and strengthen communities. Previously, he served as the organization’s director of the State Initiatives Division. Over a 13-year tenure at the CSG Justice Center, Mr. Clement led the growth and evolution of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative program, which assists policymakers seeking to reduce spending on corrections and reinvest savings in strategies that lower recidivism rates and increase public safety. As part of this process, Marshall coordinated the work of a team of policy analysts and national experts to analyze corrections data and policy and develop policy options for policymakers in 27 states. He regularly facilitated meetings among judicial and state agency officials and testified before legislative committees in various states across the country; his findings have been used to inform policy initiatives that have enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support. Mr. Clement received his BA in public policy with honors from Brown University.

Karhlton Moore

President Biden appointed Karhlton F. Moore as Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), effective February 28, 2022.

Prior to joining BJA, Mr. Moore served as the Executive Director of Ohio’s Office of Criminal Justice Services where he oversaw state and federal grants for law enforcement, victim assistance, juvenile justice, crime prevention courts, anti-trafficking efforts, reentry, corrections programs, and traffic safety. In that role, he led Ohio’s grantmaking operations, advising the governor and the director of the Department of Public Safety on criminal justice strategies. He also served as the facilitator for former Ohio Governor John Kasich’s Task Force on Community-Police Relations, precursor of the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board, a multi-disciplinary panel that establishes standards for law enforcement agencies as part of the state’s effort to strengthen community-police relations. Mr. Moore also served on the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) advisory council and executive committee, and was president of NCJA’s board of directors. He also served on the steering committee of the Justice Counts initiative.

Nancy La Vigne, Ph.D.

In March 2022, President Biden appointed Nancy La Vigne, Ph.D., to be Director of OJP’s National Institute of Justice. As head of NIJ, Dr. La Vigne leads the Justice Department’s research, technology, and evaluation agency, overseeing a wide array of social science research projects, technology initiatives and forensic activities focused on improving public safety and ensuring the fairness and effectiveness of the justice system.

Dr. La Vigne is a nationally recognized criminal justice policy expert and former nonprofit executive whose expertise ranges from policing and corrections reform to reentry, criminal justice technologies and evidence-based criminal justice practices. Her previous position was senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ), where she served as executive director of the Council’s Task Force on Policing. Prior to joining CCJ, Dr. La Vigne served as vice president of justice policy at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit social policy research organization based in Washington, D.C. Over the course of a decade, she directed Urban’s Justice Policy Center and from 2014 to 2016, she also served as executive director of the congressionally-mandated bipartisan Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections Reform.

Before being appointed as director of the Justice Policy Center in 2009, Dr. La Vigne served for eight years as a senior research associate at Urban, leading groundbreaking research on prison reentry. Prior to joining Urban, she was the founding director of the Crime Mapping Research Center at NIJ and was special assistant to OJP’s Assistant Attorney General. She previously served as research director for the Texas sentencing commission.

Dr. La Vigne holds a Ph.D. in criminal justice from Rutgers University-Newark, a master’s degree in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School at the University of Texas-Austin and a bachelor’s degree in government and economics from Smith College.

Andrew LeFevre

Andrew T. LeFevre is the Executive Director for the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission (ACJC) since July 2016. Before being selected as Executive Director, he served as the Public Information Officer and Legislative Liaison for ACJC, where he acted as the primary spokesperson with members of the media regarding ACJC’s programs and criminal justice information. He also represented ACJC and its legislative priorities with Arizona’s elected officials.

Director LeFevre previously served as the Director of Public Relations for the Arizona Department of Education and the State’s elected Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Before relocating to Arizona, Director LeFevre served as Executive Director of the REACH Alliance and REACH Foundation in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where he oversaw the expansion of the state’s innovative Educational Improvement Tax Credit program from $45 million to $70 million bringing greater educational options to tens of thousands of Pennsylvania students and families.

Director LeFevre started his career in Washington, DC where he worked for a number of criminal justice and education organizations, ultimately serving as the Executive Director for the Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations, a national 501(c)(4) trade organization representing private corrections companies and those companies and organizations that provide services to the prison industry.

Throughout his 25 year career, Director LeFevre has written numerous articles about educational and criminal justice issues, appeared on various local and national radio and television programs, and has represented the interests of law enforcement officers and victims of crime with members of the media and elected officials all across the nation.

Director LeFevre holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ, and a bachelor of arts degree in Political Science from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.

Director LeFevre serves on several appointed state boards, including the Arizona Peace Officers Memorial Board, the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, the Arizona Department of Homeland Security’s Senior Advisory Committee, and the Arizona Substance Abuse Partnership.

Megan Alderden, Ph.D.

Megan Alderden is an Associate Professor and Director of the Criminology Program at DePaul University. Prior to joining the faculty at DePaul, she served as the research director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority’s Research & Analysis Unit and the Illinois Statistical Analysis Center. Dr. Alderden joined the Authority with 16 years of research experience in the field of criminal justice working as an academic and practitioner. Prior to joining the Authority, Dr. Alderden was an associate professor of criminal justice at Saint Xavier University, and preceding her work in academia, she was a researcher for the Chicago Police Department and the Authority. Dr. Alderden’s most recent research focuses on sexual victimization and issues in policing. She is currently working as a co-principal investigator on a project examining evidence-based practices in homicide and sexual assault investigation in Illinois and on a federally funded study examining the impact of forensic evidence on prosecutorial decisions and court outcomes in sexual assault cases.

Dr. Alderden is also a researcher with the National Police Research Platform, where her work focuses on police diversification, police culture, and the civilianization of police agencies. She has published in several government reports and articles in scholarly journals. She received her doctorate of philosophy in criminal justice with a gender and women studies concentration from the University of Illinois at Chicago, her master of science degree in criminal justice from Michigan State University, and her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Calvin College.

Jason Bright

Jason Bright is Program Manager of the Criminal Records and Identification Services Section in the Montana Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). He has been a governor-appointed SEARCH Member since 2017 and was elected in 2022 to serve as Chair of the SEARCH Membership Group and Board of Directors.

The Criminal Records and Identification Services Section collects and stores criminal history information, provides fingerprint identification, and disseminates the information to law enforcement agencies and others lawfully entitled to receive it. Criminal records are used in a number of critical areas: issuing weapons permits; determining criminal sentences; completing background checks for public employment, licensing and volunteer purposes; making recommendations for parole and probation; and assisting prosecutors in criminal cases.

The section also manages the state Automated Biometric Identification System, which checks fingerprints from crime scenes and suspects against a database containing millions of prints.

Mr. Bright has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from Washington State University.

Wally Hebeish

On Jan. 1, 2022, Wally Hebeish was appointed as the 27th Police Chief for the City of Long Beach. He oversees the second largest municipal police agency in Los Angeles County, which provides law enforcement services to the seventh-largest city in California, as well as contracted services to the Port of Long Beach, Long Beach Airport, Long Beach Transit, and Long Beach City College. Chief Hebeish oversees a staff of over 800 sworn officers and approximately 1,200 personnel.

Chief Hebeish’s career in law enforcement spans over 27 years, beginning in 1994 with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department before transferring to the Long Beach Police Department in 1995. He has helped lead and inspire the department through many challenges and has been instrumental in the implementation of programs to address crime, guide organizational growth, improve employee wellness, and increase public trust surrounding equity and constitutional policing. He is committed to policing principles rooted in customer service and strengthening relationships within our diverse community.

Chief Hebeish has promoted through every rank within the Long Beach Police Department, including serving as Deputy Chief of the Support Bureau, Deputy Chief of the Patrol Bureau, and Assistant Chief of Police for over two years. He has worked a variety of assignments throughout his career and has extensive experience in the areas of Criminal Intelligence, Investigations, Patrol, and Internal Affairs.

He is a member of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the Police Executive Research Forum, and the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs Association. Chief Hebeish is a graduate of the MCCA Police Executive Leadership Institute (PELI) and has attended the Harvard University Public Safety Leadership Summit.

Chief Hebeish holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Long Beach State University and a master’s degree in communication from Southern New Hampshire University.

Rebecca Neusteter, Ph.D.

Dr. S. Rebecca Neusteter has dedicated her career to advancing equity in the criminal justice and health care systems. Her work spans the country. She is focused on reducing justice system contact, disparities, and collateral consequences. She works to enhance public safety, civic participation, and opportunities to support health and vitality. Rebecca previously served as the Vera Institute of Justice’s founding Policing Program Director. Prior to that position, she served as Director of Research, Policy, and Planning for the NYPD. Rebecca has also served as Director of Criminal Justice for the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Research Associate for the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center, Director of Criminal Justice Programs for The Doe Fund, Senior Analyst for the NYC Office of Management and Budget, and Deputy Director of Planning for the Center for Employment Opportunities.

Rebecca holds several appointments, including trustee of Friends of Island Academy, a nonprofit organization that supports and brings opportunity to youth during and after their time in New York City jails; Research Advisory Board member of the Police Executive Research Forum; and Research Advisory Committee member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Rebecca holds a PhD in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of the Graduate Center, City University of New York, an MS in Urban Policy Analysis and Management from the Milano Graduate School of the New School University, and a BA in Sociology from Chapman University.

Steven Raphael, Ph.D.

Steven Raphael is a Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and holds the James D. Marver Chair at the Goldman School of Public Policy. His research focuses on the economics of low-wage labor markets, housing, and the economics of crime and corrections. His most recent research focuses on the social consequences of the large increases in U.S. incarceration rates and racial disparities in criminal justice outcomes. Dr. Raphael also works on immigration policy, research questions pertaining to various aspects of racial inequality, the economics of labor unions, social insurance policies, homelessness, and low-income housing. He is the author (with Michael Stoll) of Why Are so Many Americans in Prison? (published by the Russell Sage Foundation Press) and The New Scarlet Letter? Negotiating the U.S. Labor Market with a Criminal Record (published by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research). Dr. Raphael is research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the California Policy Lab, the University of Michigan National Poverty Center, the University of Chicago Crime Lab, IZA, Bonn Germany, and the Public Policy Institute of California. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from UC Berkeley.

Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA)

The Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) began in 1974 and incorporated in 1976 as the Criminal Justice Statistics Association (CJSA). In 1991, CJSA changed its name to better reflect the expansion of role in supporting state Statistical Analysis Centers (SACs) now functioning across the nation. JRSA, a national nonprofit organization, is a resource center for researchers, analysts, journalists and practitioners of justice research. We provide reputable, nonpartisan research; learning programs tailored for justice researchers and research consumers who want to be informed; and opportunities for peers to meet, share perspectives and learn from one another.

www.jrsa.org

National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA)

The National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, nonpartisan, member association dedicated to assisting criminal justice agencies in the development and implementation of effective criminal justice policy. Our members represent all facets of the criminal and juvenile justice community, including law enforcement, corrections, prosecution, defense, courts, victim and witness services, and academics, as well as elected officials.

www.ncja.org

SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics

SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, is a nonprofit consortium governed by a Membership Group of governor appointees from the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the territories. SEARCH has over 50 years of experience supporting the information sharing, information technology, cybercrime investigative and digital forensics, and criminal records systems needs of state, local and tribal justice and public safety agencies and practitioners nationwide.

www.search.org

2023 Symposium on Justice Information Technology, Policy, Research, and Practice

July 24-26, 2023 · The Westin Long Beach · Long Beach, CA

Call for Presentations Closed