Six Things a Police Chief Must Get Right in a Mass Shooting Investigation

Daniel J. Oates currently serves as Interim Police Chief of Aurora (Colorado) PD. Beginning in 1980 at NYPD, Daniel moved quickly through the ranks to senior executive roles during New York's dramatic crime-reduction era in the 1990s. His most notable assignments included commanding the Office of Legal Counsel and Chief of the Intelligence Division. Chief Oates began a successful 18 year career in 2001 as Chief in Ann Arbor, Aurora and Miami Beach. He established a reputation as a progressive reformer and successful crime fighting strategies dropping major crimes in all three cities. Chief Oates’ national reputation was secured when he led the City of Aurora through the then-largest mass shooting - Century 16 Theater, July 20, 2012.
He is a graduate of Bucknell University with advanced degrees from NYU and New York Law School and is an admitted attorney in New York, New Jersey and Colorado. He is a long-time member of both PERF and the IACP and has served on their boards. He is a Past President of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police. Today, Mr. Oates runs a private law enforcement, security and consulting firm: Daniel J. Oates and Associates, LLC.

Douglas Burig is the Executive Director of MAGLOCLEN, one of the nation’s six RISS Centers. RISS is a congressionally funded program through the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Prior to Mr. Burig’s appointment as Executive Director, he was an enlisted member of the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) for 25 years, where he served as Director of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (Major). He was responsible for statewide oversight of the investigative programs and specialized investigative resources for his agency.

Mr. Burig earned a master's degree in the administration of justice and homeland security from Wilmington University and a bachelor's political science from Salisbury University. He is also a graduate of the 255th Session of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. In 2018, Mr. Burig completed the one-year FBI International Leadership in Counterterrorism (LinCT) Program.

Mr. Burig is a member of the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council, the IACP, and the IACP Police Investigative Operations Committee.

Cristina Fernandez is a Program Manager with the International Association of Chiefs of Police. She currently oversees the IACP’s Law Enforcement Family Support Program Training and Technical Assistance (TTA), Elevate Blue: Essential Training for Law Enforcement, and Mass Violence Advisory Initiative projects. Prior to joining the IACP in April of 2021, Cristina served as a Supervisor in the Crime Analysis Unit at the Springfield (MA) Police Department. In this capacity, she helped build one of the first real-time crime centers in New England. Before her tenure with the SPD, Cristina spent 11 years at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as an analyst, supervisor, and program manager on the CyberTipline. As Program Manager, Cristina oversaw the daily operations of the CyberTipline, known as the “911 of the Internet.” Cristina holds a Master’s Degree in Forensic Psychology from Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia.

Rich Littlehale is Assistant Director for Technology and Innovation at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. AD Littlehale oversees TBI’s IT operations, online child exploitation, criminal intelligence, cyber investigations, digital forensics, and electronic surveillance functions. His focus over much of his career has been identifying, collecting, and utilizing technology-based evidence in criminal investigations. He has testified as an expert witness on communications records in numerous homicide and violent crime trials, and frequently serves as an expert on access to digital evidence for the state and local law enforcement community before Congress and other bodies. AD Littlehale chairs the Technology and Digital Evidence Committee of the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies, the Police Investigative Operations Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the FBI Lawful Access and Emerging Technologies Intergovernmental Committee. AD Littlehale is an attorney and instructor on pre-trial criminal procedure and electronic surveillance law. He attended Bowdoin College and Vanderbilt Law School.

Phil Pulaski has 43 years police experience including 34 years with NYPD where he retired as Chief of Detectives. He has experience managing NYPD patrol, investigative, counterterrorism, special operations & school safety activities. He is a licensed attorney & was managing attorney in the Legal Bureau. He subsequently was Chief of Police in 2 agencies

As Chief of Detectives, he managed 3,600 personnel who investigated 256,000 crimes and arrested 39,000 offenders. As Deputy Commissioner of Operations, he was responsible for all crime reduction programs and ran COMPSTAT. He also commanded the Counter Terrorism Bureau, Intelligence Division, FBI/NYPD JTTF, Manhattan Detective Division, Bronx Detective Division, Special Investigations Division and Forensic Investigations Division.

Mr. Pulaski supervised hundreds of major investigations including multi-victim homicides & shootings, murdered officers, kidnappings, bombings, serial rapes & narcotics. He supervised national security investigations including 9-11 WTC & 2001 anthrax attacks. He managed major crises including bombings, plane/train/ferry/bus crashes, HazMat incidents & explosions.