Sheriff is said to “exemplify commitment and excellence in all aspects of law enforcement”
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott was officially named to the board of directors of CRIME STOPPERS GLOBAL SOLUTIONS (CSGS), the international arm of Crime Stoppers here in the U.S.
Lott’s appointment was official, July 22.
CSGS combats transnational crime and mitigates threats to national and international security with focuses on combating international terrorism, human trafficking, weapons trafficking, drug smuggling, illicit trade, cybercrime, bank fraud and money laundering.
In the near three-decades since Lott was first-elected to the office of sheriff, his near-1,000-employee Richland County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD) has today earned a reputation both nationally and internationally as one of America’s premier law enforcement agencies. As such in 2010, Lott traveled to Erbil, Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government to help that war-torn country establish its first-ever female police academy.
RCSD continues its strong relationship and an officer exchange program with Iraq, as it does with other foreign law enforcement agencies and U.S. military forces domestically.
ACHIEVING A NUMBER OF NATIONAL FIRSTS
Under Sheriff Lott’s leadership, RCSD became the first law enforcement agency in the nation to establish a pre¬-PTSD conditioning program for deputies and other officers in 2016. That training has since become a model for other agencies nationwide, and is today mandatory for all RCSD deputies.
In 2021, Lott was named NATIONAL SHERIFF OF THE YEAR by the National Sheriff’s Association in 2021, and in recent year’s RCSD has achieved a number of additional firsts including becoming the first law enforcement agency in the U.S. to participate in a still-ongoing 2018-present academic study (aimed at determining the impact of words and public perception) by branding all of its marked vehicles with the words PEACE OFFICER. In 2020, the department retrofitted approximately 500 deputy uniforms (both shirts and ballistic vests) with the words PEACE OFFICER stitched below the already existing words, DEPUTY SHERIFF. Two years later, Lott and RCSD proclaimed the first-ever “peace officer promise to do no harm” to those within the communities RCSD serves. And in 2023, RCSD became the first law enforcement agency nationwide to achieve peace officer certification by national non-profit POLICE2PEACE, the brainchild behind the peace officer branding initiative and the peace officer promise.
“With a legacy of safeguarding his community for nearly 50 years (27 years as sheriff), Sheriff Lott also brings tremendous international expertise to the CSGS board,” said Lisa Broderick, executive director of Police2Peace and a fellow CSGS boardmember. “Having helped train Iraq’s first female police officers and overall exemplifying commitment and excellence in all aspects of law enforcement, he’s a perfect addition to this board.”
Retired Police Officer and CSGS boardmember Justin Insalaco agrees.
“We are so honored to have Sheriff Lott join the CSGS board,” said Insalaco. “As we look to shift the Crime Stoppers model from reactive to preventative, we believe Sheriff Lott’s experience in community collaboration will have a major impact.”
HOW INTERNATIONAL FOCUSES COMBAT CRIMES LOCALLY
In terms of its international focuses, CSGS’s initial area of focus has been Eastern Europe – primarily Serbia, Bosnia, and Moldova – as many of the aforementioned transnational crimes affect their populations. CSGS has created programs and hired and collaborated with trusted program managers in those countries [since CSGS’s founding in 2018] and CSGS officials plan to expand these programs to other countries in different regions of the world.
“We are trying to create a collaborative framework that merges cutting-edge technology, strong policy and values (e.g., Police2Peace), and evidence-based programmatic offerings,” said Insalaco. “This framework will allow for the creation of actionable intelligence, efficient resource deployment, and a shift from prescriptive community services to preventative community services.”
Insalaco adds: “Human trafficking, one of our main areas of focus, is the perfect example; it is not simply a U.S. problem, it is a global problem. By having programs deployed in other parts of the world where a significant number of persons are being trafficked and enriching it with tips and data that are being collected stateside, we can provide crucial intelligence to the men and women who are working tirelessly to address the problem” both here in the U.S. and overseas.
“Everything is connected,” said Insalaco.
– For more information about Crime Stoppers Global Solutions, please visit – https://thecsgs.org/
