About the Authors

Randy Ferris spent 31 years in proprietary security working for several large organizations. In 1996, after having to deal with three serious incidents involving domestic and workplace violence, he began searching for methods by which his company could identify situations that had the potential to become violent and mitigate them before a serious incident occurred. After conducting his own independent research and receiving training from several nationally renowned experts, he put together violence prevention programs for three Fortune 100 companies.

Since then Randy has provided training for a number of large organizations and helped them develop policies & processes related to violence prevention, violence response, and the aftermath of violence. He is also a sought after speaker and has addressed various subjects related to domestic and workplace violence for the Minnesota Crime Prevention Association, the Food Marketing Institute’s Risk Management Conference, and the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators.

Randy is also a proud member of the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals.

Randy Ferris and Dan Murphy can be contacted through their website, www.violencepreventionstrategies.org for:

Dan Murphy is a retired Detective-Sergeant from the New York City Police Department, where he served for twenty years. His accomplishments there include 16 years as either a Detective or Detective-Sergeant serving in units such as the Narcotics Division, the Organized Crime Investigation Division, the Major Case Squad, the Bronx Gang Investigations Squad, and ultimately the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), after 9-11. His areas of expertise included Federal RICO investigations of violent gangs, kidnapping, human trafficking, bank robbery, and counterterrorism.

Dan has received numerous awards for outstanding patrol and detective work, including the 2003 National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) TOP COP Award, given by John Walsh of “America’s Most Wanted” in Washington, DC.

Dan was a first responder to the terror attacks of both February 26, 1993, and September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center. He has also performed undercover work in Southeast Asia while working in a task force with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

After leaving the NYPD Dan worked for The Bank of New York as a Financial Crimes and Fraud Investigator, targeting possible terrorist financing schemes. He then spent eight years with Albertson’s/Supervalu as Director of Corporate, Supply Chain, and Global Security and Investigations. He is also Founding Partner of Violence Prevention Strategies LLC, and was an Associate Director in the Compliance and Privacy Investigations Areas of Optum Health. He currently is the Chief Security Officer for a large financial institution.

Dan has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, and a Master of Arts in Public Safety Administration from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota where he is a member of the Adjunct Faculty teaching classes on Workplace Violence Prevention, Private Investigations Techniques, and the Graduate level Capstone program.

His professional affiliations include the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP), and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators (IAFCI), the International Security Management Association (ISMA), and the Overseas Security Advisory Committee (OSAC) of the U.S. Department of State.

Dan is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and a Certified Financial Crimes Investigator (CFCI).