President
aborn@caasny.com
212-350-2780

Richard Aborn is President of CAAS LLC. In this role Mr. Aborn advises police departments, criminal justice agencies, corporations and non-profit organizations in the United States and Europe on both strategic and operational issues. Mr. Aborn has more than 25 years experience in criminal prosecution and litigation, policy development, management and government affairs.

Mr. Aborn maintains a consistent focus on the process of identifying problems, developing strategic responses, and implementing comprehensive, effective solutions for his clients in both the public and private sectors. He advises clients on the design and implementation of compliance and monitoring programs; on the best methodologies to control internal corruption; on evaluating organizational capacity and improving leadership and morale; and by facilitating high level Executive Sessions in which leading members of a professional community are brought together for multi-day, highly structured dialogues with the specific goal of resolving complex, multi-dimensional problems. His approach is unique and frequently involves "silo busting" -- the process of working across outmoded or counterproductive organizational barriers to achieve successful results.

In the public sector, Mr. Aborn works primarily at the inter-governmental level to encourage disparate agencies to work together more effectively. Amongst police departments, criminal justice agencies and prosecutors, this collaboration helps ensure more efficient investigation and prosecution of crimes, and leads to enhanced crime reduction techniques and better community relations.

Mr. Aborn's clients include the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the Hartford Police Department, Transport for London (TfL) and the British Transport Police. At the LAPD, Mr. Aborn is working on a variety of projects including compliance and monitoring issues regarding a Federal Court Consent Decree; increasing the use of technology to improve efficiency and decrease costs; as well as consulting on a department-wide organizational re-structuring. He also serves as a member of a LAPD Board of Inquiry and is reviewing LAPD SWAT operations and the prosecution of high-level repeat offenders. At the Hartford Police Department he consulted on issues related to Internal Affairs, and in London he is working with TfL and the British Transport Police on several issues including organizational capacity and structure, the use of technology and operations. Mr. Aborn is also working with TfL, BTP, the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service in London on a program to enhance the effectiveness of low-level prosecutions. Additionally, Mr. Aborn recently completed the design of a monitoring program for a Fortune 250 company and is supervising the monitoring of that entity.

Mr. Aborn also currently serves as President of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, an independent, non-profit, non-partisan research and advocacy organization working to reduce crime and to improve the criminal justice system of New York City, a post he was appointed to in 2005.

Prior to founding CAAS, Mr. Aborn served as the senior law enforcement advisor to the Democratic candidate for Mayor of New York in 2001. In that capacity, he developed a comprehensive criminal justice policy for the City of New York that would provide for greater coordination of governmental agencies in order to reduce crime and recidivism; wireless technology for police officers; and increased focus on firearms violence; and the establishment of a "311" program. Although Mr. Aborn's candidate lost the election, Mayor Michael Bloomberg implemented the proposed "311" program during his first term as Mayor.

In 1999 Mr. Aborn was commissioned by the Office of the Public Advocate of New York City to conduct an investigation of the New York City Police Department's (NYPD) disciplinary system as well as its response to civilian complaints of misconduct. The investigation received extensive media coverage and resulted in numerous recommendations to reduce police misconduct. He also investigated NYPD's disciplinary decisions concerning the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed individual shot 41 times by police, in 1999.

From 1992 to 1996, Mr. Aborn was President of Handgun Control, Inc. (now the Brady Campaign), the leading gun control advocacy organization in the United States. In this role, Mr. Aborn was one of the principal strategists behind the passage in 1994 of the landmark Brady Bill and legislation banning assault weapons and large capacity clips. He has testified on Capitol Hill and before state and local legislatures regarding gun control and worked closely with the White House, the Justice Department and the Treasury Department. As one of the chief spokespersons for Handgun Control, Mr. Aborn appeared on numerous national and local television and radio shows.

Mr. Aborn also served as President of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, where he worked with the New York City public school system to develop a one-of-a-kind program to reduce gun injuries as part of the curriculum. During his tenure at the Center, he also established a research division to evaluate and supervise studies testing the impact of gun control legislation.

Mr. Aborn was an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney's office where he prosecuted major felonies, including homicides, from 1979 until 1984. In 1984 Mr. Aborn started the law firm of Aborn and Anesi where he managed complex litigation on behalf of victims of fraud on an international basis and assisted corporations seeking to eradicate internal corruption.

Mr. Aborn has lectured at New York University Law School, debated at the Yale Political Union, and served as a Visiting Fellow at Columbia University as well as a consultant to the Ford Foundation. Mr. Aborn also serves on the Board of Directors of several not-for-profit organizations, and helps them to maximize their impact by developing substantive, measurable programs and by utilizing strategic skills to promote their issues.

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