2023 NRC Topics & Speakers

Robert Cummings
Detective Superintendent
Metropolitan Police Service | London, England (retired)
“Scotland Yard's Flying Squad”

Bob retired from the Metropolitan Police Service in March 2010 having completed 32 years of service. Approximately half of his police career was served on Scotland Yard's Flying Squad, specializing in organized armed criminality and the investigation of commercial robbery. At the time of leaving the police department he was the operational head of the Flying Squad and the strategic lead for the reduction of commercial robbery in London. Bob was also a Senior Investigating officer for kidnaps with a 100% hostage recovery rate. Bob helped implement Operation Vanguard and The Safebet Alliance, two major projects, addressing modern challenges facing Law Enforcement and Private Security. After leaving Police service in 2010, Bob was employed as The Head of Loss Prevention for Loomis, an international CVIT company. Since August 2012, Bob has been employed as an independent security consultant and expert witness on security matters and police operations.

Eric Denke
Detective Sergeant
Denver Police Department | Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force
“Make Yourself At Home Bandit | Interstate Robbery Case”

Sergeant Eric Denke has been with the Denver (CO) Police Department for 25 years.  He is currently assigned to the FBI Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force (RMSSTF) responsible for investigations involving bank robbery, violent pattern robbery, and other violent crime in the Denver Metro Area.  Sgt Denke has served as a supervisor in Patrol and Investigations assignments, conducted robbery and general assignment investigations, and 14 years in patrol assignments.  He is also a member of the board of the Colorado Association of Robbery Investigators.

From July 2019 to June 2020, Lloyd Rhodes went on a Coast-to-Coast crime spree involving armed robberies of businesses from movie theaters, restaurants, and off-track gambling establishments.  This pattern required coordination across jurisdictions and continued searching for robbery events across the country.  Culminating in a nationwide manhunt with a complex, surveillance savvy offender.  What worked and didn’t work, and what should we think about when conducting complex multi-jurisdictional crime series.

William Monahan
Detective
Denver Police Department | Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force
Jared Fitzgerald Investigation”

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Detective Monahan served with the Belmont Police Department for five years before coming to Denver and joining the Denver Police Department in 2005. Detective Monahan was promoted to detective in 2012 and was assigned to District 3 Investigations, Major Crimes Night Shift, Robbery Unit and finally the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force in 2019, where he is currently assigned. Det. Monahan also serves on the board of the Colorado Association of Robbery Investigators (CARI).

Mike Baumgartner
Special Agent
Federal Bureau of Investigation | Detroit
“Detroit Jewelry Smash and Grab Crew”

Mike has been an FBI Special Agent for four years and is currently the Bank Robbery Coordinator of the Detroit Division. He will speak about an extensive robbery pattern of smash and grab crews that hit 13 states and stole over $1 million in diamonds resulting in 10 indictments in the Eastern District of Michigan. Of interest will be the lessons learned, to include utilization of Social Network Analysis (Not social media), and the benefit of GIA training for search warrants.

Topics:

Cellular Analysis
Social Network Analysis (Not Social Media)
Case Study Lessons Learned for Smash and Grab patterns
Investigative Techniques
Resources in the jewelry store industry

Mark Woodward
Detective
Denver Police Department | FBI Denver Division Bank Robbery Coordinator (retired)
“Psychology of the Robber”

Mark retired from the Denver Police department in 2014 after a 39-year career as a police officer. He has received the Medal of Valor, Life Saving Award and two Merit Awards.  Mark spent 12 years as a patrol officer in the city's busiest police district before moving on to the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) and was promoted to detective in 1987. He worked two years in assault investigations before moving to the robbery unit for the next 15 years. He was then assigned to the FBI's Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force (RMSSTF), an FBI violent crimes task force for 10 years, seven of which were as the bank robbery coordinator for the FBI’s Denver Division. Mark has been a member of the Colorado Association of Robbery Investigators (CARI) since 1989 and president of CARI since 1998. 

In order to investigate the robber we need to know the robber. Mark will talk about what makes robbers different then other criminals and how we can use what we already know in different ways to conduct successful robbery investigations.

Robert King
Operations Specialist
FBI - CJIS Division
“Multimedia Exploitation and Biometrics”

Robert King is a retired Special Agent (SA) with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and former senior team leader of the FBI’s National Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team.  SA King has 30 years of combined state and federal law enforcement experience.

In 1989 King began his law enforcement career as a patrol deputy with the Bolivar County Mississippi Sheriff’s Department then, in 1997, he became Chief of Internal Affairs for the Mississippi Department of Correction’s State Penitentiary. In 1998 King began his career with the FBI where was assigned to the Los Angeles Divisions where he worked on an FBI/LAPD violent crime task force targeting violent street gangs in South Central Los Angeles.  In 2004 SA King was transferred to the Beaumont, Texas office where he continued to work violent crime.  In 2006 SA King deployed to Iraq as part of the FBI’s Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Upon his return, SA King was promoted to the Violent Crimes Against Children Unit where he was the program manager over the Innocence Lost National Initiative and the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team. Once his headquarters assignment was complete, SA King was assigned to the New Orleans Division where he continued to work violent crime matters with a focus on volent crimes.  SA King was also a member of the FBI’s Adjunct Faculty program where he conducted trainings for local, state, and federal agencies throughout the country.   During his career SA King received numerous awards to include the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Award for Excellence in Investigation, the LAPD Distinguish Service Medal, and the FBI’s Medal of Excellence.   

SA King now works as a contractor assigned to the FBI’s Multimedia Exploitation Unit (MXU) as an Operations Specialist assisting federal, state, and local agencies with critical incidents and a variety of criminal investigation.            

Topics:

Setting up an account, uploading media, demonstration of the tools and their capabilities. Will have a booth to do one-on-one case assistance while there during the conference.

Darren Cox
Assistant Special Agent in Charge
FBI - Buffalo
“Buffalo Mass Shooting”

ASAC Cox will provide an overview of the Buffalo mass shooting that occurred on May 14, 2022, and the local and federal investigations that followed. Learning points will be: Response to a mass shooting, investigation of a racially motivated hate crime and crises response to a mass shooting event.

Mike Svela
Commander
Broomfield Police Department
“Vehicle Identification from Surveillance Images using VIN Reconstruction”

Commander Mike Svela has been with the Broomfield, CO PD since 1997. Commander Svela currently supervises the Persons Crimes Unit in Investigations and also the Internet Crimes Against Children and Computer Forensics programs. His class, "Vehicle Identification from Surveillance Images using VIN Reconstruction" is a technique investigators and analysts can use to create and filter leads and solve crimes. Commander Svela has taught this class at the 2021 IAATI and ILHIA conferences,

Vehicle Identification from Surveillance Images uses VIN Reconstruction as an investigative technique that can be used to identify suspect vehicles from surveillance images and videos. The techniques taught in this class will generate a manageable list of filtered leads in criminal cases. This technique works by evaluating unique identifying features of a vehicle which tie to unique characters and character combinations in a vehicle's VIN. It also eliminates errors in searching databases due to DMV errors or omissions in vehicle make, model, color, etc. Further evaluation of specific characteristics of a vehicle can also be used in conjunction with data from a vehicle's manufacturer, to further refine and filter searches. Investigators who use the techniques taught in this class can expect to produce significantly filtered lists of possible suspect vehicles, reducing investigative time and effort, and increasing solvability of major crimes.

Additional speakers to be announced soon.

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