Partial Instructor List

MORE TO COME

Brent Smith

Detective Brent Smith is an eight year veteran of the Mesa Police Department and is currently assigned to the Gang Enforcement Squad in the Dobson Division. Detective Smith’s past assignments include time spent in the patrol bureau as well as on special assignment to the Homicide Unit. Detective Smith was also one of the founding detectives for the East Valley Gang and Criminal Information Fusion Center, where he helped to establish an information-sharing network with other local agencies. Detective Smith is considered a regional expert on party crews and was the first in Maricopa County to successfully investigate and prosecute a party crew as a criminal syndicate. Detective Smith has been interviewed by various media outlets regarding his knowledge of gangs and has been featured as an instructor at forums such as the Arizona Gang Investigator Association’s annual gang conference.

Frederick D. Reynolds

Sergeant Frederick D. Reynolds has been a Sergeant for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s for seven years. He has been assigned to Operation Safe Streets Bureau for the last six years. Prior to that, he was a member of the Compton Police Department for (14) years. He was the Supervisor of the Homicide Unit just prior to the Department being absorbed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 2000.

Sergeant Reynolds is currently the instructor on African-American Street Gangs for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, specifically the "Street Gangs and Sub-Cultures" course and the "Advanced Gang Investigator’s" course. He is also the instructor in regards to "Association Search Warrants", which is a portion of the Advanced Gang Investigator’s course. In addition, he is the instructor of the "Gang Awareness" class taught to new recruits at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Academy in Whittier, California. He has lectured to the FBI, the DEA, and several other municipal agencies such as Chicago PD, Detroit PD, Milwaukee PD, and Gary PD in Chicago, Illinois, in regards to African-American Street gangs and gun violence. He was also a featured speaker in Cincinnati, OH, at a seminar sponsored by representatives from the Southern District of the United States Attorney’s Office. The seminar was in regards to Street Gang Migration across the United States. Additionally, he serves as a "subject matter expert" on the topic of "Gangs and Drug Law" for the Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission of California.

Sergeant Reynolds has received numerous commendations and awards during his career, including (8) eight Chief’s Commendations, (28) commendations, (2) Distinguished Service medals from both the California State Senate & the California Assembly, and also a Professional Esteem Award for Meritorious Service from the California Organization of Police and Sheriff’s Organization (COPS). Additionally, he was selected as Employee of the Year for the City of Compton twice and was twice selected as "Officer of the Year" by the COPS Organization. During the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest, he was awarded the Distinguished Service award for valor during an officer-involved shooting where two members of the Compton Police Department were shot. He is currently a nominee for the "James A. Barton Top Gang Cop" award which is presented annually by the Central Coast Gang Investigator’s Association.

Additionally, he has testified as a gang expert on at least 60 different occasions, in Orange County Superior Court, Compton Superior Court, Long Beach Superior Court, and Los Angeles Superior Court. These cases have included murder, attempted murder, robbery, and burglary.

Ronald Duval

Detective Ronald Duval is a 26 year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He is currently assigned to Operation Safe Streets Bureau as a Gang Investigator, and has been working in that capacity for over 20 years. He has specically worked with Hispanic gangs for the last 15 years. He has testified as a gang expert in Superior and Federal court approximately 100 times. He is currently an instructor for the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's Gang Investigator school. He is also a former instructor on gangs at the Los Angeles County Sherif'f's Academy.

Matt Buechner

Warden Robert Ayers

Robert L. Ayers Jr. is the Warden at San Quentin State Prison and will be retiring this year with over 41 years of service with the California Department of Corrections. He began his career as a Correctional Officer at San Quentin rising through the ranks in a number of different assignments throughout the Department. He has been the interim Warden at High Desert State Prison and California State Prison, Los Angeles County and the appointed Warden at California State Prison, Sacramento (New Folsom), Pelican Bay State Prison and San Quentin State Prison. Mr. Ayers is retired from the United States Army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Mr. Ayers is well known for thinking “outside the box” in his approach to dealing with gangs and the career criminals.

Mr. Ayers will speak regarding the transformation of gang activities within the California prison system and the impact it has had on our communities. He will also talk about the effectiveness of intervention strategies.

Detective George Collord (Retired)

At the time of Operation Black Widow, speaker George Collord was employed by the City of Santa Rosa, California, as a police detective, assigned to the Organized Crime and Intelligence Section (OCIS) of the Santa Rosa Police Department. He specialized in the investigations of Northern California street and prison gangs He was cross designated as a special deputy of the United States Marshals Service, on loan to an undercover gang task force headed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Prior to Operation Black Widow, Collord had held several special assignments. From 1987 through 1992 he was part of the Investigative Services Division of the Santa Rosa Police Department, during which time he specialized in investigating sexual assaults and child abuse. He was qualified in Superior Court as an expert in sexual assault and child abuse. He had developed an expertise in interviewing, a skill that would serve him well during Operation Black Widow. As part of ISD, he was also responsible for investigating homicides, robberies, major assaults and officer involved critical incidents.

As an undercover task force officer, Collord’s duties included investigating the Hispanic prison gang known as the Nuestra Familia and developing evidence for prosecuting the leaders and some members of the gang under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (R.I.C.O.).

During the Nuestra Familia investigation, Collord, as the lead investigator, gained an education on the inner workings of the Northern Hispanic street gang/prison gang organizations. He did this through hundreds of hours of document analysis and the viewing of, or listening to, hundreds of surveillance tapes. He also did this through interviews of dozens of current and former members of the Nuestra Familia and its sub-gang the Northern Structure, also known as the Nuestra Raza. Members he interviewed and worked with (in an undercover capacity) in the Nuestra Familia included captains, regimental commanders, a street commander, mid level members and entry level members. Members of the Nuestra Raza he interviewed and worked with (in an undercover capacity) included Nuestra Raza Administrators, Nuestra Raza Teachers and those assigned to security positions within the gang.

Former Prison Gang Member

This hardened gangster was locked down in Pelican Bay State Prison for six years where he became a high ranking leader within one of the nation’s most powerful prison gangs. When paroled, he literally controlled an army of street gang members. He was later recruited to work for the FBI. He helped collect evidence leading to several dozen arrests.

Chief Jerry P. Dyer

Chief Jerry Dyer has served the Fresno Police Department for thirty years. As a sergeant, Jerry supervised several high profile units such as the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT); The Patrol Tactical Team; The Major Narcotics Unit; and served as an Internal Affairs Investigator. In 1993, Jerry was promoted to Lieutenant and served as a Field Commander; Operations Commander; and Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Police.

During his tenure as Police Chief, Fresno has experienced six consecutive years of crime decreases resulting in a 43-year low in the 2007 and crime index. Jerry serves as the President of the California Police Chief’s Association and as an Advisory Board member on Governor Schwarzenegger’s California Gang Reduction Intervention Program. He also serves as a voting member of the Sacramento Regional Threat Assessment Center Governance Board, and is the Chair for the Central Valley “High Intensity Drug Trafficking” Board.

Steve Lucero

Steve worked with the Colorado Department of Corrections since 1990 and as a Gang Coordinator since 1994 and has had a variety of responsibilities. In 2004 he was elected the President of Colorado STING (Security Threat Intelligence Network Group) and was selected to be part of the Intel team to help investigate the 2003 Crowley County Correctional Prison Riot. Steve has taught in a variety of conferences throughout the nation on prison gangs, Latino gangs and Colorado gang trends.

Lowell Smith

Lowell is a twenty year veteran probation officer assigned to the Orange (California) Probation Department’s Special Enforcement Unit. He supervises a caseload of individuals associated with White Supremacist groups and outlaw motorcycle gangs. He has been recognized many times by various government and private groups for his efforts at combatin hate groups.

He has been involved in suppression activities and investigations into the following groups; Imperial Klans of America, Aryan Nations, World Church of the Creator, National Alliance, National Socialist Movement, White Aryan Resistance, Blood n Honour, Hammerskins, Orange County Skins, Public Enemy Number One (PENI), Nazi Lowriders (NLR), Aryan Brotherhood (AB), Hells Angels, Vagos, Mongols, Hessians, and the Set Free Soldiers.

Chris Grant

Captain Christopher M. Grant (retired) is the former Chief of Detectives of the Rapid City (SD) Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division and the former commander of the Rapid City Area Gang Task Force. He retired from active law enforcement in 2004 after serving his community for 27 years. Mr. Grant is a graduate of the University of South Dakota (USD) with a Master's Degree in Political Science and is an adjunct criminal justice instructor for USD. He is also a graduate of the 181st session of the FBI National Academy.

Mr. Grant is a nationally recognized Native American street gang and prison gang specialist. He works extensively with numerous tribal communities, schools and law enforcement agencies in Indian Country, providing gang assessment and training services. Mr. Grant also provides gang and drug consulting and training services for the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention (OJJDP), the Federal Bureau of Investigation Indian Country Unit (FBI), and The Falmouth Institute. Mr. Grant is also a national gang specialist for the U.S. Department of Justice Gang Resistance Education and Training Program (G.R.E.A.T.) and the Multi-Jurisdictional Counter-Drug Task Force Training Program (MCTFT) through St. Petersburg College in Florida.

Keep checking back, more to come!