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Virginia Sheriffs’ Association
The Voice of Virginia’s Sheriffs & Deputies

On Thursday, September 13, 2018, the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office hosted the 2018 National SHIELD Conference. This was the first-ever National SHIELD Network Conference held outside the City of New York.

Numerous speakers from around the world presented on topics such as active shooter events, terrorist attacks and violent extremism. Presentations were made by Deputy Chief Robert Anzueto from the Orlando Police Department, Deputy Director Seamus Hughes from The George Washington University Program on Extremism, Chief Inspector Brandon De Waele from the Antwerp, Belgium Police Department, Chief Rod Knecht from the Edmonton Police Service and Captain Roxanne Burke from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

The conference was concluded with a National SHIELD Network Panel discussion that included representatives from the New York City Police Department (NYPD), Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, Baltimore County Police Department, Baltimore City Police Department, Hennepin (Minnesota) Sheriff’s Office, Suffolk County Police Department and the Antwerp, Belgium Police Department.

“We are truly grateful to our law enforcement and private partners from around the world who helped make this conference a great success. We are especially thankful to the New York City Police Department for their continued support. In a world where law enforcement is tasked with being the first line of defense during a potential terrorist attack, we owe it to our community to be prepared and informed. It is also incumbent upon law enforcement to keep our community informed so they can be better prepared. Our community has truly embraced the SHIELD initiative. This program has become vital in our daily operations as we work to become even more efficient in our service to our community,” said Colonel David R. Hines, Sheriff.

The SHIELD initiative is another way for us to be prepared and informed. SHIELD is designed to not only increase opportunities for our community to seamlessly share potential crime or suspicious information with the Sheriff’s Office, but also increase their awareness of crime trends that cross jurisdictional boundaries and the current condition of terrorism abroad. For more information on the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office SHIELD program, please visit https://hanoversheriff.com/362/HCSO-SHIELD-Program.

The Hanover County Sheriff’s Office would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas, Chief Humberto Cardounel and the men and women of the Henrico County Division of Police for their assistance during this event. We would also like to thank our sponsors who helped make this event possible with their generous donations and support: Price Perkins, the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, Hilton Hotel and Resorts, Henrico Federal Credit Union, Cigna, RTW Media, Whelan Security, FutureLaw, and Kings Dominion & Soak City.

You may read the Hanover County press release here, along with the program agenda here.