About our authors

Robert M. Shusta, Captain (retired), MPA, served over 27 years in law enforcement and retired as Captain at the Concord (California) Police Department. He has been a part-time instructor at numerous colleges and universities in northern California and at police academies. He is a graduate of the 158th FBI National Academy and the 4th California Command College conducted by POST. He has served on state commissions responsible for developing POST guidelines and state policy recommendations. (Retired) Captain Shusta has conducted extensive training on cultural awareness and hate crimes as well as Train the Trainer programs on combating domestic violence. His interest in increasing officers’ familiarity with the challenges of policing a multicultural society began with his Command College thesis, introducing a model development plan for law enforcement agencies experiencing demographic changes due to immigration. (Retired) Captain Shusta is one of the early pioneers to bring attention to the need for cross-cultural awareness in law enforcement.

Deena R. Levine, MA, has been providing consulting and training to organizations in both the public and the private sectors for nearly 30 years. She is the principal of Deena Levine & Associates, LLC, a firm specializing in multicultural workplace training as well as global cross-cultural business consulting. She and her associates, together with representatives from community organizations, have provided programs to law enforcement agencies, focusing on cross-cultural and human relations. Ms. Levine has also consulted with and provided training to social service agencies, educational institutions and corporations. She began her career in cross-cultural training at the Intercultural Relations Institute, formerly at Stanford University, developing multicultural workforce understanding for managers and supervisors. She has published additional texts on the cultural aspects of communication, including Beyond Language: Cross-Cultural Communication (Regents/Prentice Hall).

Aaron T. Olson, MEd, is an adjunct professor at Portland Community College (PCC), Portland, Oregon, and Eastern Oregon University (EOU), La Grande, Oregon, where he teaches courses on multicultural diversity. He designed the first cultural diversity courses and curricula for PCC’s criminal justice program in 2001, fire protection program in 2009, and EOU’s fire service administration program in 2011. Outside of academia, he is an independent consultant, specializing in staff development, training and problem-solving for businesses and government agencies. Since 2003, he has provided multicultural training for fire, police and 911 public safety personnel. He is a U.S. Army Veteran, retired Oregon State Police patrol sergeant and shift supervisor with 26 years of police experience in communications, recruiting and patrol assignments. He is a former investigator with the Local Government Personnel Institute with expertise in investigating elected city and county officials, police chiefs and other government employees for workforce misconduct, sexual harassment, sexual discrimination, retaliation and gender bias. In 2002, he established public safety workshops for immigrants and refugees at the Immigrant Refugee Community Organization, Portland, Oregon, which ended in 2015.