Matthew Simeone Award for Public Private Partnership Excellence: First Recipients NYPD Shield and the ASIS NYC Chapter

by Oksana Farber, Chair Matthew Simeone Award Committee

Congratulations to NYPD Shield and the ASIS International New York City Chapter for being the first recipients of the newly established annual Matthew Simeone Award for Public Private Partnership (P3) Excellence! The award recognizes an outstanding P3 program and its representatives: one from the public sector and one from the private sector. NYPD Shield maintains a highly effective information-sharing and collaborative P3 relationship with the NYC chapter since its launch in 2005.

The award presentation took place at the ASIS Annual Seminar in Orlando, Florida at the Law Enforcement/Military Appreciation Luncheon on Wednesday, September 21, 2011. The key note speaker at the luncheon was DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano who wished to stay long enough at the luncheon to witness and applaud the award's first presentation. ASIS President Ray O'Hara presented the private sector award to NYC chapter representative Craig Schwab, NYC chapter secretary, and the public sector award was presented to NYPD Shield representative, Chief Michael Blake.

The P3 award, established by the ASIS Law Enforcement Liaison Council (LELC), is conjointly facilitated with the ASIS Foundation and recognizes both a private sector representative and a public sector representative from an outstanding P3 program. Sixteen applications were received from ten different States across the country during this competition. The award selection committee, which consists of seven P3 subject matter experts from six different States, included LELC members, an ASIS VP and a representative from the IACP Private Sector Liaison Committee. All of the applications were carefully reviewed and NYPD Shield scored the highest points.

Matthew Simeone was an active LELC member and distinguished P3 supporter. Prior to his untimely death in 2009, he was an Inspector and a distinguished 24-year member of the Nassau County Police Department (NCPD) in New York. He was the Commanding Officer of the Police Commissioner's Community Affairs Unit and a highly respected private sector liaison. Well-known for his Naval Postgraduate Thesis "The Integration of Virtual P3s into Local Law Enforcement to Achieve Enhanced Intelligence-Led Policing", his work was also published in Police Chief magazine and he contributed to the USDoJ/COPS-funded "Operation Partnership".

NYC chapter chairman Kevin O'Brien stated, "On behalf of the NYC Chapter, we appreciate the award and are very proud of our relationship with NYPD Shield."

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly added "I want to thank ASIS for this award. The Police Department is grateful for the recognition and for the terrific partnership we have with forged with your members through NYPD Shield. We're confident that the relationships we have with the 7,500 members of NYPD Shield contribute every day to making New York City safer and better defended against crime and terrorism. Terrorists, even those who act alone, conduct surveillance, make purchases, and assemble materials to carry out their attacks. We want to make sure that private sector security personnel are always on the lookout for suspicious activity and that if they see something of concern, they know what to do and who to contact."

Oksana Farber, chair of the Matthew Simeone Award Committee, noted, "Inspector Simeone and I often spoke about the lack of cooperation and collaboration between law enforcement agencies and the private sector, most significantly those relating to the protection of critical infrastructure. We'd spend hours discussing how serious this gap is in our nation's overall homeland security strategy. His dedication to P3 development provides support for the broad adoption of public-private information-sharing networks and his work demonstrated that establishing these ties is essential to public safety and homeland security. The LELC and the ASIS Foundation are proud to establish this annual award in honor of his memory and his many P3 contributions. The ASIS Foundation and the LELC are very grateful to the Microsoft Global organization, the Conley Group, NCPD and the other sponsors of the award. Thanks to their support and assistance, ASIS will be able to annually recognize the impact and significance of P3s on our homeland security agenda".

Mike Howard, CSO, Microsoft Global explained "Microsoft Global Security is proud to help sponsor the 2011 Matthew Simeone Award for Public Private Partnership (P3) Excellence. Inspector Matthew Simone epitomized the very best of what it means to be a law enforcement officer. His community orientation is an example of collaboration at its best by taking the best of law enforcement and partnering with citizens, for the betterment of society at large. P3s follows this same methodology. In today's turbulent world, no one entity, either Private or Public Sector, can deal alone, with the myriad of threats facing society, whether it be crime, terrorism or civil unrest. Only by integrating relationships between the Public and Private sectors, can we hope to achieve the goal of a safer community and safer America. Microsoft Global Security has witnessed, first hand, the value of such partnerships as evidenced by its partnership with State Department's Overseas Advisory Council (OSAC), which is an effective program for sharing threat information, globally, which might affect U.S. companies abroad. That is why we support the ASIS International Foundation and Law Enforcement Liaison Council, in the Matthew Simeone Award. P3s give all of us the best chance to promote information sharing and programs to keep all of us safer and more secure. It is an honor to be part of this wonderful and very important award."

Tom Conley, LELC member stated "The Conley Group is deeply honored to be able to help support the Matthew Simeone Award for Public Private Partnership (P3) Excellence. It is no secret that meaningful and robust public/private partnerships (P3s) have long been recognized by progressive leaders from both sectors as a significant public safety force-multiplier. Inspector Matt Simeone, who was a highly-dedicated public servant, knew well that public safety is the primary responsibility of public agencies and is one that cannot be abrogated. As an effective and visionary public sector leader, Inspector Simeone also knew that the job of public safety is too big for public officials to accomplish by themselves. He understood the reality that leveraging the private sector by creating effective P3s was, and would be, absolutely essential in order to achieve maximum community safety."