Nicholas Luciano’s commitment to fighting crime extends well beyond his position as Vice President of Hannon Security. Nick is also the current Chairman of the Crime Stoppers of Minnesota organization. Crime Stoppers is a non-profit organization that serves as the conduit between the general public and law enforcement. Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards of up to $1,000 to anyone furnishing information that leads to the arrest of criminals, fugitives and those committing serious felonies.

Luciano joined the program two years ago looking to gain experience and to do his part by giving back to the community.  Little did he know, the organization was on a downward spiral and on its way to shutting its doors.  “Had I understood that at the time, I wouldn’t have joined” stated Nick.   “Once in, I was involved.  I decided this program wasn’t going to go down with my name attached to it.”  So with only two members left on the Board, he was elected Board Chair, it was close vote he says and they started their uphill climb.

“In the end, I viewed the task at hand no different than what I do day-to-day for Hannon – creating and maintaining relationships with our customers and employees.” 

Since that time, Luciano has developed successful partnerships with law enforcement, media and community.  Among the corporate sponsors is Hannon Security who, in addition to financial and staff support, also donates office space for Crime Stoppers of Minnesota.

Since his appointment as chairman, Luciano has been instrumental in growing the organization’s means of communication.  He helped launch a new website www.crimestoppersmn.org, installed a new tip management software program and has increased Crime Stoppers’ capacity to receive anonymous tips through a 24/7 call center manned with bilingual operators, the internet and most recently with SMS text messaging.

Crime Stoppers is based on the principal that "Someone other than the criminal has information that can solve a crime" and was created to combat the three major problems faced by law enforcement in generating that information:

• Fear of reprisal  
• An attitude of apathy  
• Reluctance to get involved

The History of Crime Stoppers:
When a young college student, Michael Carmen, was shot to death during a robbery at an Albuquerque, New Mexico gas station in July 1976, Detective Greg MacAleese had no idea who was responsible for the killing.

No witnesses came forward and it appeared the senseless and brutal shotgun slaying would remain a mystery.

MacAleese, who worked for a newspaper before joining the Albuquerque Police Department, knew something innovative would be necessary to encourage the public to get involved and help solve the murder.

He conceived the idea of producing a video re-enactment of the homicide, guaranteed anonymity for anyone who was willing to call him with information and put up a reward from his own pocket to encourage someone to provide a lead that would help identify those responsible for the murder of Carmen.

It seemed almost unnecessary to take such extraordinary steps to solve the killing of Carmen. It was a case that should have outraged the community and brought forth many witnesses.

Carmen was only two weeks away from getting married and had taken an extra shift at the gas station to give a co-worker the night off. When police responded to an emergency call they found Carmen gravely wounded. He had been shot in the abdomen at point blank range with a 12-guage shotgun.

The medical staff kept him alive for four hours and during that time he tried to tell Detectives who was responsible, but he just didn't have the strength to form the words.

At that time Albuquerque had one of the highest per capita crime rates in the country and people were afraid to help the police.

MacAleese’s plan to identify those responsible for killing Carmen worked. Within a few hours after the recreation of the murder was broadcast on television station KOAT, he received a phone call. The video image had triggered the memory of a person who heard a loud bang in the vicinity of the gas bar and then saw a car driving off. The caller told MacAleese the vehicle belonged to a resident in a nearby apartment complex.

Through investigation MacAleese and a team of detectives arrested two men within 72 hours and charged them with the murder of Carmen and a string of armed robberies.

MacAleese received other calls following the reenactment, including one that allowed police to solve the rape of a young woman. Realizing that this type of program might be useful in fighting crime, MacAleese convinced the Albuquerque Police Department to allow a group of citizens to establish the first Crime Stoppers program.

For his efforts Detective MacAleese was named one of the people in the 1970's who changed the face of the United States and was also named the country's Police officer of the Year. It's also interesting to note that since adopting Crime Stoppers Albuquerque's crime rate has dropped significantly and no longer is ranked in the list of 20 cities with the highest per capita crime rate.

On January 7, the work of Security Officer Wahid Gul made a major impact to downtown theft in Minneapolis. Officer Gul observed an individual by way of security camera using a pry bar to enter a secure downtown apartment building at the street entrance. Officer Gul quickly called for back-up and proceeded to the area.

Knowing the suspect was armed, he quickly recalled his training from Hannon’s “Apprehending a Suspect” class, and used the necessary caution. Officer Gul confronted the suspect about the illegal forced entry and was able to detain the suspect until the police arrived.

Officer Gul’s observation and quick action lead to the suspect’s arrest. The suspect has been booked 24 times since 2004. Since his arrest, the Minneapolis Police Department say thefts from similar locations in the precinct have decreased markedly. The suspect has been charged with 3rd Degree Burglary (felony) and Possession of Burglary Tools (Felony).

There has been huge growth in the popularity of security-related programs since 2002, when the Department of Homeland Security was created, says David Silverberg, editor of the trade magazine Homeland Security Today. The programs began popping up at community colleges and online-only institutions five or six years ago, and now they are being offered at some of the nation's most prestigious universities. "Homeland security has developed as a discipline, and it took time for people to realize that it was a discipline," Silverberg says. "People think of homeland security as just screeners at the airport, and it is way more than that." In the spring of 2007, Homeland Security Today published its first educational directory, with a list of 81 institutions with homeland security programs. The most recent directory, published last fall, had nearly twice that number. Silverberg says the growth in academic programs mirrors the job market. The Department of Homeland Security, a federal department made up of 22 agencies with more than 200,000 employees, is just the beginning, he adds. Every state has its own homeland security framework, and job seekers in the private sector, even in seemingly unrelated fields such as nursing and law, find the courses are a résumé builder, he says. Offerings range from vocational certificates earned in a few weeks to advanced degrees.

Source: USA Today

Individuals associated with foreign-based criminal groups are targeting the U.S. as we speak, and they are a major focus of American law enforcement and a top priority of the FBI’s organized crime busting efforts.  These groups have much in common with their Mafia brethren, beginning with their hunger for power and profit.  But what sets them apart is their reach. While traditional mobsters mostly operate domestically, Eurasian and Asian crime groups are transnational. Some report to an established leadership hierarchy in their native lands while others have fuzzier connections, but all require that we work closely with our law enforcement partners in these regions of the world.

Eurasian criminal groups hail from dozens of countries spanning the Baltics, the Balkans, Central/Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caucacus, and Central Asia. Although ethnically-based, they work with other ethnic groups when perpetrating crimes. Asian organized crime includes traditional enterprises like the Chinese Triads, Chinese Tong, and Japanese Boryokudan, as well as more loosely organized groups like the Big Boys Circle, the Asian Boyz Group, and Vietnamese and Korean criminal enterprises. Both groups are involved in a range of illegal activities in this country, including drug trafficking, extortion, murder, kidnapping, home invasions, prostitution, illegal gambling, loan sharking, insurance/credit card fraud, stock fraud, and the theft of high-tech components. Chinese groups are also involved in human trafficking—bringing large numbers of Chinese migrants to North America and essentially enslaving them here. One of U.S. law enforcement’s chief concerns: the same criminal infrastructure that smuggles people into the U.S. could also be used to smuggle terrorists. 

Over the past few decades, U.S. law enforcement has had a great deal of success against the major Mafia families using a full suite of investigative methods. Now, we’re using the same set of tools to combat Eurasian and Asian crime groups, including: Intelligence gathering, The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO Act.  Along with cooperation from both domestic and global law enforcement partners; and time-tested techniques like undercover operations, court-authorized electronic surveillance, informants and cooperating witnesses, and consensual monitoring.

Source: fbi.gov

Did you know… Between 1912 and 1918, you could take your money to Washington D.C. to be washed and ironed.