Balancing the Scales of Justice: The Critical Need for Law Enforcement Agencies to Identify Gender Bias in Responses to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence

Throughout his distinguished thirty-year policing career as an officer, detective, supervisor, police chief, and state public safety commissioner, Tom Tremblay has been a passionate leader for the prevention of domestic and sexual violence. He is now a national and international advisor and trainer for police, prosecutors, advocates, higher education, the military, and the private sector.

Tom is a contracted subject matter expert on domestic violence and sexual assault for numerous organizations including the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Center for Campus Public Safety, the Police Executive Research Forum, the Rape Abuse Incest National Network, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, and U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women.

Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He is a graduate of the 183rd Session of the FBI National Academy, the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar, the Police Executive Research Forum–Senior Management Institute for Police, and the IACP National Law Enforcement Leadership Institute on Violence Against Women.

Dave Thomas is an IACP Program Manager focusing on projects pertaining to the National Law Enforcement Leadership Initiative on Violence Against Women and the Integrity, Action, and Justice: Strengthening Law Enforcement Response to Domestic and Sexual Violence Demonstration Initiative.

Dave retired from the Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland in December 2000, upon which he was the 2nd highest decorated officer in the history of the department. He taught at the Montgomery County Police Training Academy, served on the S.W.A.T. team, and was a Hostage Negotiator. He also helped to create his department’s Domestic Violence Unit and was responsible for the department’s curriculum development in domestic violence training, and policy development on domestic violence related issues.

In addition to his police service, Dave has served as a Senior Advisor to the Maryland Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention Victim Services Unit as a Domestic Violence Specialist and as the Program Administrator for Domestic Violence Education and instructor for the Police Executive Leadership Program in the Johns Hopkins University Division of Public Safety Leadership. In 2012, Dave was honored at the White House as a Champion of Change and was appointed by the White House to serve as a Public Delegate to the 2013 United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Just prior to joining the staff of the IACP, Dave served as the Senior Advisor, Highly Qualified Expert Law Enforcement, SES, to the U.S. Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.

Dave holds a bachelors’ degree from Towson University, a masters’ degree from the University of Maryland, and a Certificate in Advanced Trauma Treatment from the Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy Training and Education.

Kristen McGeeney is a Project Manager in the Programs division of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and has been with the IACP for four years. She oversees the day-to-day programmatic, logistic, and financial details of several projects focused on providing innovative and victim-centered training and technical assistance (TTA) on human trafficking and gender-based violence to law enforcement and allied partners. Currently, she manages the National Human Trafficking Training & Technical Assistance Program for Enhanced Collaborative Model (ECM) Task Forces, which provides training on emerging techniques and best practices to support trauma-informed and victim-centered investigations and prosecutions of human trafficking; address core multidisciplinary task force operational needs; and build trust between persons subjected to  human trafficking and justice system personnel.  

Prior to joining the IACP, Kristen served as a Special Investigator with the University of Maryland Office of Civil Rights & Sexual Misconduct, as the Title IX Coordinator at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and as a police corporal at McDaniel College Department of Campus Safety, where she specialized in conducting trauma-informed investigations of gender-based violence. Kristen has been conducting law enforcement training on gender-based violence since 2012, and is a former trustee of the Rape Crisis Intervention Service of Carroll County, MD. Kristen is a graduate of McDaniel College in Westminster, MD and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health (MPH) at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she is violence prevention fellow with the Bloomberg American Health Initiative.