ACCOMPLISHMENTS
For over two years I acted as a senior advisor to the Police Commissioner of the New York Police Department on risk management issues and civil liability, an organization with 56,000 employees and a $5.2 Billion annual operating budget. I also provided consulting services in developing a robust risk management program, a first for the New York Police Department. During my time at the Los Angeles Police Department, members of the New York Police Department reached out to me to learn about the proactive nature of the programs I had developed at the Los Angeles Police Department. At the time, the New York Police Department had no risk management programs and was facing $180 million a year in liability. Upon becoming a consultant for the New York Police Department, I assisted in the development of their Risk Management Bureau, which included the creation of the Risk Mitigation Division, which would carry out many of the proactive programs for gathering, analyzing and reporting on precursors to liability in the areas of civil rights litigation, employment litigation, Fair Labor Standards Act litigation, employee injuries and illness and employee traffic collisions. Additionally, I streamlined and enhanced the Department’s performance monitoring programs to collect data not previously collected, analyzed or reported on and added additional performance criteria for monitoring and corrective action. I also assisted in the development of the Police Action Liability Section, which works with the New York City Law Department in the defense of civil lawsuits related to police activity. And, I assisted in the development of regular collaborative meetings with the New York City Comptroller’s Office and the New York City Law Department to discuss pending civil litigation. With these new programs, the New York Police Department experienced a 13% reduction in police action claims, a stark reversal to the upward trends that the Department had been experiencing in recent years. The Department also experienced a significant increase in defense verdicts on police action lawsuits. At the Los Angeles Police Department, an organization with 13,000 employees and a $1.4 Billion annual operating budget, I was appointed as the first Department Risk Manager and was charged with developing a proactive risk management program that would assist the Department in reducing civil liability. Accordingly, I developed the first ever proactive risk management program in law enforcement. As the Department Risk Manager, I instituted regular collaborative meetings with the Department’s existing programs, including: Professional Standards Bureau and Internal Affairs, Force Investigation Division, Employee Relations Group, Workplace Environment Liaison Section, Personnel Division, and Behavior Science Services Section. I also developed proactive functions within Risk Management Bureau that would gather, analyze and report on precursors to liability in the areas of civil rights litigation, employment litigation, Fair Labor Standards Act litigation, employee injuries and illness and employee traffic collisions.
And, I enhanced the Department’s performance monitoring programs to collect data not previously collected, analyzed or reported on and added additional performance criteria for monitoring and corrective action. Within one year of these changes, the Los Angeles Police Department experienced the following reductions:
Employment Lawsuits: Comparing 2012 and 2013, the number of lawsuits filed decreased from 26 to 12, representing a 54% reduction.
Preventable Traffic Collisions: Comparing 2012 and 2013, the number of preventable traffic collisions decreased from 526 to 409, representing a 22% reduction.
Workers’ Compensation Claims: Comparing 2012 and 2013, the number of new claims decreased from 3,680 to 3,590, representing a 2% reduction.
Use-of-Force Lawsuits: Comparing 2012 and 2013, the number of lawsuits filed decreased from 50 to 39, representing a 22% reduction.
FLSA Lawsuits: Zero lawsuits were filed in 2013.
Numerous civil jury trials and civil appellate experience in state and federal courts, including the California Supreme Court, which has developed insight into the thought process of judges and juries on issues of civil liability and public perception of litigants.
Experience as the primary representative in interacting with government commissions, committees, councils and offices.
Sixteen years of personal relationships and interactions with federal and states judges, attorneys, government representatives, commissions, committees, councils and offices.
Sixteen years of experience in providing training and advice in the development of policies and procedures of public and private employers in the area of human relations and organizational management.