Dr. Don Gemeinhardt
Principal Investigator, BSU Emmett Till TTA; LE Subject Matter Expert
2024
Dr. Gemeinhardt EDd, MSS,MBA (Col USAF, Retired) as the lead Principle Investigator, grant administrator and as the Senior Board member for the Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) LLC and the BSU Foundation his experience started in law enforcement and security from the time he entered the Air Force as a Security Policeman from a patrolman to an investigator and then the Training officer, Operations officer, Chief of police for units ranging from 50 to 1500 police officers and security personnel to the Group Commander or base commander to the Director of the anti-terrorism program and risk assessment efforts for all European DOD installations as the Special Assistant for Security Matters for the CINC ( the senior military officer in Europe). He was responsible for creating the Community Policing program in the Air Force and won the Covey Award for that program from the Air Force. After retiring from the Air Force he went on to continue research working for various organizations in developing both law enforcement and intelligence efforts with DHS, FBI and other Intelligence groups in the federal government. While his Doctorate is in Educational Leadership and Educational Technology he specialized in applied training. He continues to be a subject matter expert in Law enforcement and intelligence. He has been a member of several DHS centers of excellence at the University of Washington, Arizona University and the DHS committee at Duke University. He is a DHS Liaison Officer in NC, a Basic Law Enforcement Instructor. His civil rights experience has been in research in cold cases in applied polices for various agencies which he currently is the Lead Principal Investigator for the BSU portion of the TTA ( Training and Technical Assistance) for the Bureau of Justice Assistance ( BJA) Emmett Till Cold Case Investigations and Prosecutions Program concerning Hate Crimes. He has also done field research concerning Fusion Centers across the country for DHS and the University of Washington Center of Excellence. As a DHS Trainer, Dr. Gemeinhardt has been involved with training police officers in many aspects and developing forms of training that are accessible to everyone but more importantly methods that can be validated, measured, and developed in a way that can determine not only it’s worth but how it can be constantly adjusted to be the most effective in the field which is where it counts. Dr. Gemeinhardt has been a program manager, researcher, instructional designer, and evaluator at many levels, not just in academics as an Area Chair and as the Director of a training school but as the director for exercises at many applied levels.
The inaugural Eradicate Hate Summit was a truly impressive gathering of leaders dedicated to finding lasting and effective solutions to violent extremism. I was particularly moved by the prominence given to survivors and family members of victims of hate and violence throughout the event. Their stories and those of so many others must be at the center of what we do and why we do it.
