Thomas Wieczorek, Director of the ICMA Center for Public Safety Management
A former city manager, public safety director, and police officer, Tom Wieczorek manages ICMA's Center for Public Safety Management, focusing specifically on the fire service. Prior to his current position at ICMA, Tom was the executive director of the Center for Public Safety Excellence, a national organization addressing fire accreditation.
Tom is a frequent speaker at national events and has a long history of achievement in local government. He is the past president of the Michigan City Management Association, was a gubernatorial appointee on transportation and asset management issues in Michigan, and currently represents ICMA on the National Fire Protection association's 1710 career committee. In 2000, Tom received ICMA's Mark E. Keane Award for Excellence, the organization’s highest award.
Leonard A. Matarese, M.P.A., ICMA-CM, IPMA-CP, SPHR, Director of Research and Public Safety Programs
A veteran with over 40 years in city management and public safety, as well as a nationally prominent author and speaker, Leonard Matarese leads the ICMA Public Safety Services Team. After a distinguished career as a city manager, public safety director, police and fire chief, and human resources commissioner, Mr. Matarese now directs an outstanding group of consultants, each with their own record of creating innovative, cost effective public safety solutions. Mr. Matarese has held state-wide office in a police chiefs association, been elected president of one of the largest regional police chiefs associations in the country, and served as the chair of a major federal anti-narcotics and counter terrorism strike force. He currently serves as ICMA's representative to advisory boards on U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security projects.
In addition to his public safety experience, Mr. Matarese is an ICMA credentialed manager and holds an International Public Management—Human Resources Certified Professional credential. He has a bachelor's degree in Political Science and a master's degree in Public Administration.
Dov Chelst, Ph.D., Director of Quantitative Analysis
Dr. Chelst manages the analysis of public safety data for the Center. He is involved in all phases of The Center's studies from initial data collection, on-site review, large-scale dataset processing, statistical analysis, and designing data reports. To date, he has managed data analysis projects for over 60 city and county agencies ranging in population size from 8,000 to 800,000.
Dr. Chelst has a Ph.D. in mathematics from Rutgers University and a B.A. Magna Cum Laude in mathematics and physics from Yeshiva University. He has taught mathematics, physics and statistics, at the university level for 9 years. He has conducted research in complex analysis, mathematical physics, and wireless communication networks and has presented his academic research at local, national and international conferences, and participated in workshops across the country.
Kenneth R. Chelst, Ph.D., Operations Research
Dr. Chelst is an expert in the application of advanced mathematical models for all emergency resources planning, especially police. He lead a demonstration project for the City of Detroit Police Department which cut response times by 40% using continuous improvement and data-driven decision-making. Over the past two decades he has studied several dozen emergency services operations using data driven techniques to determine the most efficient organizational structures to provide public safety services. He holds a Ph.D. degree in operations research from M.I.T. where his dissertation topic was Mathematical Models of Police Patrol Deployment. His research interests include operations research models applied to emergency services, structured decision making. He is a nationally recognized expert on the merger of police and fire services into a public safety department and on the relative performance of one versus two officer patrol units. Dr. Chelst is also past chair and professor of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering of Wayne State University.
David Martin, Ph.D, Operations Research
Dr. Martin specializes in policy analysis, program evaluation and computer programming. He has developed software for mapping calls for service data from fire departments, EMS, and police agencies for geographic analysis of workload. He has worked with several police departments to implement CompStat-style mapping and analysis tools that support the tactical deployment of personnel. Dr. Martin teaches statistics at Wayne State University and is also a program evaluator for four Department of Justice Weed and Seed sites. Dr. Martin is also a Senior Researcher in the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University.
Gang Wang, Ph.D., Operations Research
Gang Wang received the dual bachelor degrees in industrial design and management science, and the M.S. in information system from Chongqing University in China and the Ph.D. degree in industrial engineering from Wayne State University. He has three years experience in enterprise information system and six years experience in data analysis and applied mathematical modeling. He has rich experience in areas of automotive, travel and public safety Operations Research with particular emphasis on Fire and EMS. Dr. Wang has completed more than forty Fire and EMS studies in 20 different states and has published a book chapter and several journal articles.
James E. McCabe, Ph.D., Senior Public Safety Manager—Police
Dr. McCabe retired as an Inspector with the New York City Police Department after 20 years of service. As Inspector his assignments included Commanding Officer of the NYPD Office of Labor Relations and Commanding Officer of the Training Bureau. As a Deputy Inspector he was the Commanding Officer of the Police Academy with direct supervision of over 750 staff officers and 2,000 recruits. He also served as the Executive Officer in the Police Commissioner's Office assisting in the overall management of the NYPD. His field experience includes, Commanding Officer, 110th Precinct, Executive Officer, 113th Precinct, assignment to the Operations Division/Office of Emergency Management and uniform patrol as on officer and Sergeant in Manhattan. He has published extensively and presented to numerous conference including Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. He is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Sacred Heart University.
Dr. McCabe holds a Ph.D. specializing in organizational behavior, an M.Phil in Criminal Justice from CUNY Graduate Center, an M.A. in Criminal Justice from John Jay College, an M.A. in Labor and Policy Studies from SUNY Empire State College, and B.A. in Psychology from CUNY Queens College. He is a graduate of the Executive Management Program, Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the 189th Session of the FBI National Academy.
Paul E. O’Connell, Ph.D., J.D., Professor of Criminal Justice, Iona College, New Rochelle, New York, former NYPD Officer, ICMA Senior Public Safety Manager - Police.
Dr. O'Connell is a leading expert on the application of the Compstat model of police management. He has been a full time member of the Criminal Justice faculty at Iona College in New Rochelle, NY (USA) since 1994. He received his Ph.D. from the Graduate Center, City University of New York, (CUNY) where his doctoral thesis was The History and Development of the Compstat Model of Police Management (2002).
Dr. O'Connell has provided consulting services to a variety of government agencies, including assessment of existing policing policies and practices, and development of proactive management strategies. Over the years, he has collaborated with the Center for Technology in Government (Albany, N.Y.), Giuliani Partners (New York, N.Y.) and the Center for Society, Law and Justice (U. of New Orleans).
Ryan Davies, Assistant Program Manager
Ryan Davies has been with ICMA since early 2011 where he currently serves as a project coordinator for the Center for Public Safety, as well as assisting other programs on ICMA’s Membership Team. He holds a Master’s in Public Administration and Bachelors’ of Arts in Political Science from Grand Valley State University. While in graduate school he worked as a Graduate Assistant for Grand Valley State’s Public Administration Department. Prior to joining ICMA, he has served as a Project Administrator for Ferrysburg, MI; where he coordinated a variety of projects including researching comparables for police contracts.