Mass Demonstration Planning, Response, and Recovery

Nazmia E.A. Comrie is a senior program specialist in the Resources and Technical Assistance (RTA) division at the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office). Nazmia provides leadership for the development, implementation, and delivery of technical assistance efforts to state, local, tribal, and campus law enforcement agencies across the county as the program manager for the Collaborative Reform Initiative. She is an issue manager for issues related to human trafficking, hate crimes, interpersonal violence, and mass demonstrations, and has expertise in officer wellness and safety and youth safety. To date Nazmia has authored and coauthored a number of publications relevant to her areas of expertise and the criminal justice field as a whole, including Building Stronger, Safer Communities: A guide for law enforcement and community partners to prevent and respond to hate crimes. In addition Nazmia was a significant contributor to the After-Action Assessment of the Police Response to the August 2014 Demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri report that was released in 2015. Nazmia received her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Rochester and her master's degree in criminal justice from University at Albany, where she worked on research involving homicides, wrongful convictions, community policing, and gangs. 

William B. Evans, Dir.Public Safety, Boston College.

Prior member of the Boston Police Department.

Boston Police Commissioner.

Career .Highlights :

Superintendent, Field Services Bureau.

Managed Occupy Boston Movement, sports parades, protests,, presidential visits.

Major role in the Boston Marathon bombing

Enacted community policing via Peace Walks, Social Justice Task Force, & other efforts.

Academic background and training include:

Bachelor of Science Government, Suffolk University,

Master’s Cybersecurity, Boston College,

Master’s Public Administration in Criminal Justice, Anna Maria College.

FBI National Academy, FBI National Executive Institute

Police Executive Research Forum’s Sr. Management Police Institute

Center for Homeland Defense & Security Naval Postgraduate Institute.

Sr. Executives in State & Local Government JFK School of Gov.

National Preparedness Leadership Initiative & Meta Leadership Executive Sessions, JFK School of Government

David Kennington is a Licensed Professional Counselor employed by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) since 2007. He manages The Professional Wellness Section, which was cited as a model officer wellness program in a 2019 Department of Justice Congressional Report. The Professional Wellness Section has 2 Units (Counseling and Wellness) with multiple programs including, training, critical incident stress management, psychotherapy, peer support, family support, and chaplain support. The Professional Wellness Section is comprised of both sworn and civilian employees.  He provides therapy to law enforcement personnel and their families, is a certified officer wellness instructor and leads critical incident stress debriefings. He has over 30 years of experience working as a clinical psychotherapist. He recently served on Officer Safety and Wellness Panels at the Department of Justice. He has a B.A. in Psychology from The University of Texas at Austin (1988) and a M.A. in Professional Counseling from The University of Texas at Tyler (1994). David has been married to Korree for 23 years. They have 2 sons, Collin (20) and Cooper (16). 

Laura McElroy has dealt with almost every imaginable news story in her 30 years of work as an award-winning journalist, the communications director of the Tampa Police Department, and as a communication strategist. She has guided government agencies and large companies during high profile crises and managed large-scale events. This media veteran led the joint information centers for a Republican National Convention, multiple hurricanes, and Super Bowl XLIII. She has helped leaders effectively manage worst-case incidents, including racially tense officer-involved shootings, a statewide four-day manhunt for a cop killer, intense political protests, a sex scandal at a public agency, negligent death cases, a murder-suicide at a large urban hospital, the death of a child in protective service care, officers involved in criminal activity, and many more. As the Principal Consultant of The McElroy Media Group, Laura addresses every aspect of a crisis, from strategizing how best to represent the organization in the media and social media, to addressing both internal audiences and key stakeholders, all while minimizing the impact on operations.  Laura is a member of the Independent Monitoring Team of the Chicago Police Department. She works with the Monitor's Community Engagement Team to ensure community members have a voice in reforming their police department. Laura shares best practices in her field as an instructor with the Police Executive Research Forum's Senior Management Institute of Police, SMIP. She also serves as a subject matter expert for the U. S. Department of Justice, CNA's Institute for Public Research, Major Cities Chiefs Association, the National Training and Technical Assistance Center, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Through these organizations, she develops strategic communications plans and conducts executive-level training, working with law enforcement agencies around the country, installing best practices in crisis communication, media relations, social media, and community outreach. After assessing an agency's current program, Laura designs and helps implement progressive solutions that ultimately grow the agency's relationships with the media and the community it serves.   As a communication strategist, Laura has conducted media training for national franchise owners and helped local businesses generate news stories about their operations and grow their digital footprint via social media training. Her 16 years of experience working in broadcast news gave her, a clear understanding of the media and its daily objectives. As a reporter and anchor, she won local, state, and national awards. During her 11 years as the Tampa Police Department's Communications Director, Laura helped the agency navigate innumerable crises, all while strengthening its community relationships. By establishing new levels of transparency and accountability, she improved public trust in the department that resulted in extensive positive news coverage and helped mitigate controversial issues. In this role, she developed excellent working relationships with all Tampa media outlets and created new partnerships with activists, community groups, and business leaders.  During her tenure with the Tampa Police Department, Laura led the multi-agency Joint Information Center for the 2012 Republican National Convention, comprised of more than a hundred Public Information Officers. The Center used social media to improve the perception of law enforcement during the convention, which historically generates negative publicity for agencies. The photographs posted on social media helped set the tone of local and national stories about the event. Four years earlier, Laura led the Joint Information Center for Super Bowl XLIII. Her six-month media campaign created positive publicity for local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.  

David T. Snively is a Program Manager at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and oversees the Collaborative Reform Initiative Technical Assistance Center (CRI-TAC).

David has worked in public safety for 16 years at every rank from Officer to Interim Chief of Police. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's School of Police Staff and Command and PERF's Senior Management Institute for Police. David is also a Master Instructor, and holds specialty instructor certificates in Use of Force, Firearms, TASER, ICAT, and Field Sobriety.

In addition to his professional experience and training, David is an affiliate instructor and Ph.D. candidate at Georgia State University, where his research focuses on the impact of police agency education and training requirements on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. He is also a National Institute of Justice LEADS Scholar and a Fellow of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.