Crime Related Personal Injury Expert Witnesses: 10

Dr. Roy G. Taylor is a current Chief of Police with over 40 years of experience in a wide-range of federal, state, local, and private criminal justice positions. Dr. Taylor specializes as an expert witness in Police Practices and Procedures and Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. Current Positions:

• Chief of Police Blue Ridge Public Safety (2014)
• President/CEO Signal 88 Security of Charlotte (2012)
• President/CEO Capitol Special Patrol (2012)
• Chief of Police Capitol Special Police (2002)
• Lt. Colonel – Provost Marshal, Army National Guard (2000)
• Antiterrorism / Emergency Management Branch Chief DoD (2007)
• Provost Marshal Joint Civil Support Task Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff (2014)

Litigation Support - Dr. Taylor is called upon to analyze cases from both defense and plaintiff perspectives. His services include case review, written reports, deposition, and trial testimony as needed. 

Areas of Expertise:

View Roy Taylor's Consulting Profile.

Dr. James F. Pastor, Ph.D, JD, CPP, brings a unique and remarkable career in Security, Policing, and Public Safety, starting as a tactical officer in Gang Crime Enforcement for the Chicago Police Department, one of the most active policing units in the country.

As a security expert, author, attorney, and former professor, Dr. Pastor merges security methods, academic theories, and legal principles; providing an exceptional level of depth and breathe in your case. As an attorney, he served and advocated for both the Chicago Police Department and for two police unions. In addition, he has represented both security guard and electronic security firms. These experiences bring broad experience into the security industry and public safety.

Augmented with a doctorate in Public Policy Analysis, he understands that policies create incentives and drive human behavior. As these directly impact public safety and crime, few possess his experience, his unique insight and his security sense.

Areas of Expertise:

Litigation Support - Dr. Pastor is a highly regarded expert witness with experience in policing, security, public safety, and legal issues relating to these. His depth and breathe of experience is substantive, yet practical. Bringing a unique background, along with credentials and skills, including participating in over 700 prior depositions, has proven to be very effective in his expert witness role.

Simply stated, Dr. Pastor brings practical “street cop” thinking layered with years of academic, legal, and professional experience. He understands the real world, criminological theories, and security methodologies. Combined with security laws and public safety policies, each are merged into authoritative analysis, assessments, and presentations.

Dr. Pastor has over 20 years of university teaching experience in security, public safety, and policing, including Northwestern University- Center for Public Safety and the International Law Enforcement Academy. 

Author of four books on security and public safety, plus chapter on Private Policing in ASIS International's Protection of Assets Manual and created Privatization of Policing Bibliography for Oxford University Press, both being comprehensive, substantive works relating to Private Policing.

View SecureLaw LLC's Consulting Profile.

Timothy A. Dimoff, CPP, founder and president of SACS Consulting & Investigative Services, Inc. a leading security consulting firm, has over 40 years of experience in Law Enforcement and Security matters for both the public and private sectors. He is multi-certified in the security field and is considered one of the nation's leading authorities on negligent security procedures; security & vulnerability issues; police procedures and operations including use of force; high-risk workplace and human resource issues; narcotics investigations and enforcement. 

Mr. Dimoff is board certified by ASIS as a Certified Protection Professional (CPP?) which is internationally recognized as the “gold standard” certification for security management professionals, demonstrating their knowledge and competency in seven key domains of security.

Litigation Support - Mr. Dimoff has over 20 years of experience in testifying and consulting as an expert witness in over 500 cases and trials for both the plaintiff and the defense sides. His expert witness experience includes law enforcement procedures, security negligence of business or physical premises, human resources issues, meeting standards of practice in hiring and termination, employment practices, proper documentation, training, supervision, policies and procedures, harassment, discrimination, internal investigations, threats and excessive use of force.

Mr. Dimoff is a renowned speaker, trainer, and author who has offered expert commentary to national media including Dateline, NBC, CNN, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, The LA Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.  He is the author of four books, including How to Recognize Substance Abuse, The YOU in Business, and Life Rage, a chilling examination of societal rage and safeguards against it.

Mr. Dimoff holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology with an emphasis in Criminology from Denison University.

Areas of Expertise: 

View Timoth A. Dimoff's Consulting Profile.

Robert S. Griswold, CRE, CPM, CCIM, ACoM, RPA, PCAM, CCAM, GRI, ARM, has over 30 years of specialized experience in the field of Real Estate Management. He is currently active as a day-to-day hands-on, licensed practitioner, consultant, and expert witness in all aspects of real estate (except valuation). A 3-time graduate of the distinguished Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California with a BS ('81), MBA ('86) and MSBA (2nd Masters) ('88) in real estate and related disciplines, Mr. Griswold is a recognized expert on management of all types of residential real estate. He has actively managed over 60,000 residential units and several million square feet of commercial, industrial, self-storage and retail properties nationally. He has extensive experience as a court-appointed receiver (over 160 times) for private lenders and major financial institutions. 

Litigation Support - In the last 30+ years, Mr. Griswold has consulted on over 4,000 litigation matters, has been deposed over 700 times, and provided sworn testimony in trial or arbitration on over 200 occasions in both state and federal litigation matters throughout the United States. Also serving as a court-appointed bankruptcy Custodian and Referee, his case work is very evenly divided between plaintiff and defense work. Mr. Griswold is uniquely qualified to opine on real estate related litigation matters having authored or co-authored the 12 best selling real estate books: Real Estate Investing For Dummies; Property Management Kit For Dummies; Mortgage Management for Dummies and Landlord's Legal Kit For Dummies. His 15+ years as an On-Air NBC-TV Real Estate Expert and a similar tenure as a major radio station weekly talk show host have prepared him to present opinions to juries. 

Areas of Expertise:

View Robert Griswold's Consulting Profile.

Gary Deel, Ph.D., J.D. has 10 years of experience in executive-level positions in the hospitality industry and 10 years of experience teaching hospitality management and law curriculum for some of the nation's top hotel schools.

Dr. Deel holds both a Ph.D. in Hospitality and a J.D. in Law, so he understands the nuances of expert witness testimony from the perspective of attorney strategy. He has also worked in a variety of different hospitality industry capacities including operations, sales, security and risk management, training and administration, and others. His services are available to help attorneys make the strongest possible arguments for clients in hospitality-related cases. Dr. Deel offers expert witness services nationwide in the areas of:

Recent Cases:

• Suit against Miami beach resort involving catastrophic injury in the ocean and hotel duty to warn about latent hazards known to hotel and not obvious to visitors (plaintiff).
• Suit against Orlando city center convention hotel involving sexual assault of a minor guest by an employee and hotel duty to monitor employee whereabouts and activities (plaintiff).

Howard Levinson, CPP has been in the Security field for over 40 years. He is a Board Certified Protection Professioal (CPP) and services clients throughout the USA and Internationally.

Consulting

As the President of Expert Security Consulting, his firm provides services such as Risk and Vulnerability Assessments/Surveys and Security System Design of new and existing private and public facilities. His diverse experience in Security/Loss Prevention includes Education Complexes, Banking, Retail, Commercial, Industrial, High Tech, Distribution/Supply Chain, Hospitality, Multi-unit residential, High-End and VIP residences and many others. Mr. Levinson has performed or directed consultations at over 200 client locations.

Expert Witness

Howard has been an Expert Witness specializing in Security and Premise Liability for over 28 years. He assists attorneys in preparing for Premise Liability cases, provides professional opinions as a subject matter expert and forensic testimony. Representing both Plaintiff and Defense, he has consulted, offered his opinion, and testified in well over 50 cases. He is available to provide clear, concise reports with documentation to meet all requirements.

Areas of Expertise Include:

• Premise Liability
• Security Negligence with Security System Design (CCTV, Access Control, Alarms, Lighting)
• Risk and Vulnerability Assessments
• System Design
• Policies and Procedures
• Security Operations
• Investigations
• Security Officer / Firm Negligence
• Crime Prevention
• Assaults and Attacks
• Policy and Procedures
• Theaters
• Parking Lots
• Schools / Education
• Residential
• Retail / Shoplifting
• Hospitality - Bars and Restaurants

Dr. Ron Martinelli, PhD, CMI-V, is a nationally renowned Forensic Criminologist and a federal/state courts qualified law enforcement and premises liability expert who is also a Certified Medical Investigator (physician's level). He is also a Certified Suicide Investigator. 

Dr. Martinelli directs the nation's only Forensic Death Investigations & Independent Review Team of 26 law enforcement, forensic and medical experts and specializes in officer-involved death cases, civilian self-defense shooting cases and premises liability/security cases. He is a forensic/law enforcement expert to the U.S. Department of Justice, several State Attorney Generals' Offices, numerous major municipalities and nationally prominent private law firms specializing in wrongful death, civil rights and premises liability. 

Dr. Martinelli is the prevailing expert in over 90% of his retained cases. He has saved defendants over $300M and earned plaintiffs over $160 million in jury verdicts and settlements since 2004. He is the media's go-to forensic expert for FOX News, One America News Network, CNN, HLN, Sky News, BBC, NPR, and the History & Discovery Channels. Dr. Martinelli is skilled in crime scene reconstruction, forensics, applied sciences, human factors, psycho-medical emergencies and premises liability and security cases. His unique and extensive field experience, combined his academic and scientific credentials, excellent written reports and persuasive testimony, make him a very appealing expert to attorneys and juries alike.

Areas of Expertise:

• Arrests
• Search & Seizure
• Use of Force / Excessive Force - All Levels and Weaponry
• Officer Involved Shootings(OIS)
• In-Custody Deaths
• Criminal Investigations
• Law Enforcement & Corrections Practices, Training & Supervision
• Adult & Juvenile Corrections
• Law Enforcement Negligence
• Civilian Self-Defense, Premises Liability, Security, Foreseeable Harm
• Insurance Cases
• COVID Detentions & Arrests

Dr. Randy Atlas AIA , CPP is a Registered Architect, NCARB certified, and he practices Criminal Justice Architecture and Environmental Security Design. Atlas is a certified protection professional (CPP) with the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS), and is an appointed member of the ASIS Security Architecture and Engineering Committee. Atlas has his doctorate in criminology and a masters of architecture. Dr Atlas is a Fellow  member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Dr. Atlas has taught CPTED (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design) and criminal justice courses at Florida International University, Florida Atlantic University, and the University of Miami, Keiser University, and he is a trainer with the National Crime Prevention Institute at the University of Louisville. Dr. Atlas has been a technical Assistance consultant with the National Institute of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, and the Florida Department of Corrections and U.S. HUD Drug Elimination CPTED Program.

He has conducted ADA accessibility compliance audits for private and public sector clients, and served as an expert witness on over 200 premises liability lawsuits.

Dr. Atlas has been a speaker and trainer at security conferences from New Delhi, India to Seattle, Washington and has written over 200 articles in various publications on security, safety, and counter terrorism issues.

Owen Ahearn, CPM, has over 35 years of experience in Premises Liability, managing and maintaining Residential and Commercial Real Estate.  He is a Certified Property Manager®, an Accredited Residential Manager®, an Accredited Commercial Manager® and a Public Housing Manager®.  He also holds an OSHA 30 Hour General Industry certification.

Mr. Ahearn has extensive experience managing federal property (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Resolution Trust Corporation, United States Marshals Service) and private real estate throughout most of New England. He has managed and maintained commercial and residential real estate including single family homes, duplexes, triple-deckers and multi-unit dwellings, condominium associations, home-owner associations, and commercial plazas. 

Litigation Support - Mr. Ahearn is an experienced Expert Witness with expertise in property management, property maintenance, reasonable standards of care, and risk management throughout the United States as well as Canada. His services are available to attorneys' representing plaintiff and defense and include site inspections, reporting, depositions, and trial testimony.

Areas of Expertise:

View Ahearn Realty Management's Consulting Profile.

Dennis Fivecoat has over 25 years of Use of Force and Firearm experience in the Military (20 years, retired) and private sector including significant training in the area of Civilian Law Enforcement.  He has attended numerous firearm and use of force related training courses including instructor development with local and federal law enforcement agencies, tactical firearm, close quarters battle, concealed carry, force-on-force training, use-of-force, and legal updates.

Litigation Support - As an instructor-trainer (Master Instructor) in firearms and less lethal devices (pepper spray, expandable baton, defensive tactics, handcuffing), Mr. Fivecoat has a practical and academic basis in the use of deadly and less-lethal use of force by civilians.  His experience teaching firearm use, defensive tactics, and use-of-force allow him to provide opinion on not only proper use of the tool or tactic utilized, but whether the actions were reasonable under the circumstances of the incident.

Mr. Fivecoat provides consultation and testimony on the reasonable use of force, self-defense, and defense of others. Private citizens may become involved in situations (shootings, brandishing, threats with weapons, excessive force, false arrest, false imprisonment) where the reasonableness and legality of their actions are challenged. Review of actions taken, firearm use, and the education of the expert provide the foundation for determining the reasonableness of each parties’ actions. Mr. Fivecoat will review the incident and opine based on local law, training standards, and the reasonableness of the use of force under the circumstances and conditions of the incident. 

Areas of Expertise:

Background - Dennis Fivecoat is a retired US Army physician assistant with a wide variety of functional background and experience. He has seen service in eight different countries encompassing desert, jungle, snow, and maritime missions. His past responsibilities range from combat in SW Asia to hospital duties as an ICU nurse in South Carolina. He has responded during national hurricane relief efforts and somewhat smaller Defense Support to Civil Authority (DSCA) missions. Click for Full Biography.

View Dennis Fivecoat's Consulting Profile.