I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I joined the Los Angeles Police Department where my career spanned 32 years. I retired a few years ago at the rank of Detective III Supervisor and I was a supervisor for 18 years.

During my career, I worked a variety of assignments including patrol, school car, special problems unit, gangs, organized crime, narcotics, homicide, various detective squads and CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums).

While assigned to the Department's Citywide Gang Detail from 1982 through 1986, I was nicknamed "Pacman" by the gang members in south/central Los Angeles because of the yellow Plymouth Fury I drove during those five years. Due to my reputation and work in the area of gangs, my nickname "Pacman" and a replica yellow Plymouth Fury I drove were used in the storyline of the classic gang movie "Colors". Click the Pacman link to read a newspaper article regarding my exploits.

During my last 12+ years on the job, I supervised the Department's Gang Field Unit (GFU) whose mission was to seek out and apprehend gang members and other criminals who had committed violent crimes in the City of Los Angeles. We successfully arrested hundreds of persons wanted for various crimes such as murder, bank robbery, rape, armed robbery, carjacking, child molestation, kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. Our squad received the LAPD's highest unit award, the Meritorious Unit Citation, for its accomplishments.

During my law enforcement career, I came into contact with thousands of gang members, teenagers and young adults. I was able to focus my efforts on developing my knowledge and expertise on the gang problem and see it from different angles. I've been around gangs and gang members my entire life and have used that experience to make myself more effective in dealing with the various issues associated with gangs, gang crime and juvenile delinquency.

Although much of my work has been in the suppression/enforcement area, I understand the importance of the prevention and intervention aspects when dealing with the gang problem. Being the father of four successful "adult" children, I have been a volunteer coach in various youth sports for over 20 years and fully understand the value of those concepts. I have been conducting formal training and lectures on gangs to law enforcement professionals, the private industry, students and educators and various civilian groups since 1982. I am still very active conducting training and speaking throughout North America. To see the various training topics and subjects that I offer, go to the "Training" section of my website.