58: Effective Prevention of School Shootings, with Chief Tony Pustizzi and Detective Rich Wistocki
In the wake of the recent Oxford Michigan High School shooting, the guys from 3CT are joined by their guests, Retired Chief Tony Pustizzi of the Coral Springs (FL) Police Department and Cyber Crimes Detective Rich Wistocki to discuss some preventive measures to help avoid these tragedies. They examine the need for properly trained and certified School Resource Officers that can effectively interact with school staff, administrators and parents. Also explored are some of Chief Pustizzi’s experiences during the infamous 2018 Parkland school shooting and Detective Wistocki’s knowledge in forecasting and stopping potential threats.
About the guests:
Chief Tony Pustizzi (retired) began his career with the Coral Springs Police Department in 1988. Over his 30-year tenure, he supervised every unit within the agency with a strong emphasis on investigations, including homicide and special victims. Tony served on the SWAT team for 15 years where the last eight he was team commander. Tony rose through the ranks to ultimately become chief of police in 2012. He also served as the city’s interim city manager and retired in March 2018 as the chief of police/deputy city manager. In January 2019, Tony came out of retirement to serve as the special counsel to the new sheriff of Broward County upon his appointment by the governor of the state of Florida.
During the school massacre on February 14, 2018, where a former student entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida and killed 17 innocent people and injured another 17 students, Chief Pustizzi, along with members of his agency, arrived at the school within minutes of being notified and was instrumental in organizing a complex law enforcement approach, including stopping and capturing the killer and extracting victims from within the school was initiated.
Tony now conducts trainings nationwide on school and workplace violence preparedness as he is a firm believer that seconds save lives and can attest that the Hero911 app for police would have alerted his officers minutes earlier, possibly saving lives during the incident he was directly involved in.
Child crime expert Detective Richard Wistocki has dedicated his career to helping children by tirelessly pursuing, apprehending and prosecuting child predators. As an active Cyber Crimes Detective he educates Law Enforcement using cutting edge investigative techniques and Parents and Students on responsible digital activity.
- 30 year, decorated member of Law Enforcement
- 23 year SWAT team member
- Authored the State of Illinois Sexting Law
- Authored the State of Illinois Sexual Exploitation of a Child Law
- Member of The United States Secret Service Chicago Electronic Crimes Task Force (CECTF)
- Member of The Illinois Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC)
- High Technology Crimes Detective, Naperville Ill.
- Formed the Will County Illinois States Attorney’s High Technology Crimes Unit that made over 90 sexual predator arrests in its first 3 ½ years.
Created Juvenile Justice Online, a first of its kind diversion program redefining the future of positive juvenile reform.
Resources/Links/Websites:
https://fourstarstrategies.com
https://www.besureconsulting.com/
richwistocki@besureconsulting.com
Tony Pustizzi
Chief of Police (retired) CEO
Chief Pustizzi began his career with the Coral Springs Police Department in 1988. Over his 30-year tenure, he spent most of his time in criminal investigations, including homicide and the special victims’ unit. Additionally, he served on the SWAT team for 15 years, the last eight of which as team commander. He rose through the ranks to ultimately become chief of police in 2012. He also served as the city’s interim city manager and retired in March 2018 as the chief of police/deputy city manager. In January 2019, he came out of retirement to serve as special counsel to the new sheriff of Broward County upon his appointment by the governor of the state of Florida.
Chief Pustizzi has a bachelor’s degree in criminology and law from the University of Florida and a master’s degree in public administration from Florida Atlantic University. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the Southern Police Institute Command Officer’s Course and the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar.
Chief Pustizzi has served as state president for the Florida chapter of the FBI National Academy Associates, the chair for the National Benchmark Cities Chief’s Association, an executive board member of the South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, and an executive board member of the Broward County Chiefs of Police Association.
As the owner of Four Star Strategies, Inc., Chief Pustizzi conducts training throughout the United States and Canada on school and workplace violence preparedness. He has been a keynote speaker at the FBI Natio… Read More
Richard Wistocki
Cyber Crimes Detective (Ret)
Instructor BIO:
Detective Richard Wistocki (Ret.) had been a law enforcement officer for 30 years and 28 years with the
Naperville Police Department. In his last 22 years as an Internet Crimes Investigator with the Naperville
Police Department, he has forged numerous partnerships with the community and other Law Enforcement
Agencies. He has been a SWAT operator / Sniper for the past 22 years. He is one of the founding
members and an affiliate member of the Illinois Attorney Generals High Tech Crimes Bureau (ICAC).
He is one of the Cyber trainers for the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO).
Rich’s passion is concentrated in teaching parents how to parent their children while online. He takes his
juvenile investigations experience and applies it to teaching parents how to be better parents. He is an
instructor for the Department of Justice and varius Law Enforcement Mobile Training Units and POST
units across the United States. He is also the creator of the Illinois Sexting Law, Child Exploitation
Online, Swatting Legislation and the new Illinois School Resource Officers’s training and guidelines.
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