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Dr. Obed Magny has over 16 years of experience in policing. His experience includes patrol, professional standards unit, and school resource officer.

Adam has more than 17 years of media and public relations experience, preceded by nearly a decade in print, radio and television newsrooms.

He became the public information officer, primary spokesperson and media liaison for the Lexington County (South Carolina) Sheriff’s Department in 2015. As a member of Sheriff Jay Koon’s executive staff, Adam holds the rank of captain and leads the department’s public information unit. He is responsible for media relations, crisis communication and issues management, along with the agency’s video productions, social media and digital content.

Adam got his start in the media in 1995 as a freelance correspondent at his hometown newspaper. He went on to cover news and sports as an anchor, reporter, and producer at radio and television stations, and broadcast networks in South Carolina and Dallas, Texas.

Adam jumped to the “other side of the news” in 2004 when he became a public information officer and spokesperson for one of South Carolina’s largest and most high-profile state government agencies.

Adam serves as a contract instructor with FBI-LEEDA. He is also a frequent speaker and panelist focused on law enforcement’s relationship with the news media and the profession’s use of social media and digital content. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Lander University. Adam lives with his wife and their two children in Lexington, South Carolina.

Lloyd Nguyen, DBA, is a former Marine and Air Force veteran who has 25 plus years of law enforcement experience with the Orange County (California) Sheriff’s Department (OCSD). As a sergeant for the OCSD, his duty assignments include custody, OCDA’s regional gang task force, patrol, statewide transportation, John Wayne Airport Police Services, and currently, Laguna Niguel Police Services.

Sergeant Nguyen served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps with a combat deployment in the Persian

Julie Parker has a unique and extensive background in television and radio news, media relations and crisis communications, having served as both an Emmy award-winning TV news reporter, the media relations director for two of our nation’s largest police departments and as a senior media advisor for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. She guides for-profit, nonprofit and government organizations as part of the communications consultancy she founded in 2014. Among Julie’s most noteworthy accomplishments was directing the public information strategy for a county government serving a diverse population of 1.1 million people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2011, Julie left the world of general assignment reporting for a greater challenge: serving as director of the Media Relations Bureaus for the Fairfax County and Prince George’s County Police Departments. Both law enforcement agencies are among the top 40 largest in the nation. For seven years, she served as the principal communications advisor to the chief of police and other executive command staff and was responsible for key messages, media strategy and the management of and strategy behind robust social media operations. The Washington Post highlighted Julie’s success with social media in this article.

Julie calls upon her 20 years in police media relations and broadcast news during her various projects with the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s Mobile Education Team, regular speaking appearances at the FBI National Academy, and law enforcement and social media conferences. Additionally, the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing invited Ms. Parker to provide written testimony on technology and social media. Connect with Julie on Twitter at @JulieParkerComm and LinkedIn.

Evan Bloom is CEO of Fortress Strategic Communications (FSC), a public relations consultancy that represents companies whose services and solutions manage and mitigate all types of safety, security and risk. Typical clients are active in law enforcement, public safety, physical security, homeland security, risk management and emergency management domains. FSC also helps small police departments enhance their media and community relations. Contact Evan at evan@fortresscomms.com.

Currie Myers is the retired sheriff of Johnson County, Kansas, and on the faculty in the Criminology Department at Benedictine College.

People call me the cop doc. I’ve been a clinical psychologist far longer than I’ve been a mystery writer. My specialty is treating first responders, cops and firefighters who are suffering with work-related traumatic stress. My protagonist, police psychologist Dr. Dot Meyerhoff is a spunky, 50 plus year old who takes orders from no one, including her chief. I named her after my mother and grandmother. Dot and I share some traits, but we’re definitely not the same. She’s younger, thinner, investigates crimes when she should be counseling cops and has some skills I don’t need: breaking and entering, impersonating a public official, and assault with a deadly weapon. Too dedicated for her own good, not to mention stubborn, impulsive, and full of self-doubt, Dot never gives up on anyone which is important because cops are difficult clients. They hate reaching out for help because it makes them feel weak and they don’t trust outsiders, especially “shrinks.”

I started my writing career with non-fiction and I’m still at it. Along the way, I’ve earned awards from The California Psychological Association for Distinguished Contribution to Psychology and the American Psychological Association for Outstanding Contribution to Police and Public Safety Psychology.

Ellis Amdur studied classic Japanese combat arts for 53 years, spending 13 of these years studying in Japan. From this experience, plus a subsequent education in psychology, he has developed a range of training and consultation services on dealing with aggressive and mentally ill individuals. He has been a lead trainer for over 100 law enforcement, correctional institutions and fire/EMS on crisis intervention related subjects. Ellis recently co-founded GullaAmdur Associates, in collaboration with Don Gulla, a renowned expert on firearms and less-lethal weaponry, defensive tactics and Crisis Intervention Training (CIT). Both share the viewpoint that one should never give up on an attempt at peaceful resolution through verbal de-escalation tactics, yet at every moment, one should be prepared to defend one’s own and others’ lives by the best tactic available.

Amdur’s books on profession-specific, tactical communication, crisis negotiation and combatives can be secured at www.edgeworkbooks.com.

Mark Kroll, PhD, FACC, FAIMBE, is a biomedical scientist with a primary specialty in bioelectricity. Secondary biomedical specialty is biomechanics with a focus on the biomechanics of arrest-related death (ARD). His bioelectricity scientific work involves researching and lecturing on electric shocks and their effects on the body. In his subspecialty of ARD biomechanics, he published the first paper establishing the amount of weight required to crush the human chest and the first paper on fatal head injuries from electrical-weapon-induced falls.

He is an adjunct full professor of Biomedical Engineering at the California Polytechnic University. He was awarded “Fellow” recognition by the American College of Cardiology and the Heart Rhythm Society and awarded Fellow status by the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society and the American Institute for Medicine and Biology in Engineering. He is the author of over 200 abstracts, papers, and book chapters and co-editor of 4 books including “TASER® Conducted Electrical Weapons: Physiology, Pathology and Law” and “Atlas of Conducted Electrical Weapon Wounds and Forensic Analysis.” Mark frequently serves as an expert witness in use-of-force litigation and is a compensated member of Axon’s scientific and corporate boards.

Email Mark at mark@kroll.name.

William L. Sandel, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Missouri State University and the Director of the Graduate Certificate in Crime Prevention. Prior to joining the faculty of MSU, Dr. Sandel worked as the research specialist at the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center. The ALERRT Center has been named the national standard by the FBI for active shooter training and response.

Dr. Sandel has led multiple research projects resulting in publications. He has experience in experimental design research, survey research, vision tracking software and virtual reality software. Dr. Sandel has conducted national studies in policing that have resulted in working relationships with police officers at all levels of government. Additionally, he has guided several graduate students through the research process resulting in manuscripts and national presentations.