Episode 22
Aurora Movie Theater shooting
Behind the Crime Scene - A True Crime Podcast
Episode 22
It's July 20, 2012. During the midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises at the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, James Eagan Holmes set off tear gas and shot into the audience. It was the deadliest shooting in Colorado since Columbine. In this four part series, Gina L. Osborn goes Behind the Crime Scene with former Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates and Denver Division FBI Special Agent in Charge Jim Yacone to talk about Heroes, Horror and Hope.
Picture by artist Randy Bish.
Special Guest
Daniel J. Oats, former Aurora Police chief
Daniel J. Oates is a law enforcement and security consultant who recently completed a highly successful 39-year career as a police executive. He began his career in 1980 in the New York Police Department (NYPD), moving quickly through the ranks and eventually serving in very senior executive roles during the City’s dramatic crime-reduction renaissance of the 1990s. His most notable assignments included commanding the 80-attorney office of legal counsel, the NYPD Legal Bureau, and then serving as Chief of the Intelligence Division.
Beginning in 2001, Mr. Oates moved on to be a successful police chief in three cities – Ann Arbor, Mi., Aurora, Co. and Miami Beach, Fl. Over 18 years as a police chief, Mr. Oates established a reputation as a progressive reformer and successful crime fighter, with major crime dropping in each of the cities he led, from 24 to 30 percent. Mr. Oates’ national reputation was secured when he led his police officers and the City of Aurora through the horrific crisis, investigation and aftermath of the then-largest mass shooting in U.S. history, the Century 16 Theater Shooting on July 20, 2012. He retired from his last role as chief of police in Miami Beach in July, 2019.
Mr. Oates is a graduate of Bucknell University and holds advanced degrees from New York University and New York Law School. He is an admitted attorney in New York, New Jersey and Colorado. He is a long-time member of both the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and has served on the boards of each of these prestigious law enforcement organizations. He is also a Past President of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police and a graduate of both the FBI’s National Executive Institute (NEI) and the University of Denver’s Public Safety Leadership Institute.
Mr. Oates was a charter member and served for 15 years on the Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council (CICC), the national advisory panel of police chiefs and sheriffs, created in 2004 to advise the U.S. Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security on intelligence and security strategies in a post-9/11 world.
Today, Mr. Oates runs a private law enforcement, security and consulting firm: Daniel J. Oates and Associates, LLC
Special Guest
jim yacone, retired FBI Special Agent in Charge
Jim Yacone serves as the Chief of Mission of the SANS Institute. His decades of leadership, operational experience and public service round out SANS’ deep understanding of the public and private sectors’ varied mission sets and workforce development needs. Jim previously led business security operations for the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates. As a security executive within the company, Jim directed multiple teams focused on the mitigation of cyber, physical, and staff security risks. Prior to his career with the financial sector he served for more than two decades as a special agent with the FBI and assistant director in charge of global critical incident response. In this capacity he managed more than 4,600 personnel responsible for crisis management, SWAT operations, crisis negotiations, hostage rescue, weapons of mass destruction mitigation, surveillance, aviation operations, behavioral analysis, and cyber threat assessments.
Jim joined the FBI in 1995 as a special agent. He first served in the Philadelphia field office where he investigated violent drug trafficking organizations, organized crime, and financial institution fraud. He was then selected as a member of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) where he deployed to multiple critical incidents and major investigations in support of the global war on terrorism. He served as an operator, supervisor, and unit chief with the HRT until 2006 when he was selected to lead the FBI’s national surveillance and aviation programs.
In 2007, Jim was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the FBI Richmond Division where he managed counterterrorism, counterintelligence, cyber, and intelligence operations. Concurrently, he was selected by the FBI Director to lead a strategic merger to consolidate the FBI’s surveillance assets into a unified Surveillance and Aviation command.
From 2009 to 2011 he was appointed as commander of the Hostage Rescue Team and chief of the national SWAT and crisis negotiation programs. Jim deployed tactical assets to hundreds of domestic and international incidents, and embedded FBI agents with special operations forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and other hostile locations around the world. In 2011, he was selected as the FBI special agent in charge of the Colorado of Wyoming field office, and concurrently was appointed by the Director of National Intelligence to be the Domestic DNI Representative for a nine-state region. Notably, Jim was the federal on-scene commander (OSC) for the Aurora Theater shooting response and the Benghazi investigation.
A New York native, Jim graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1987 with a BS in mechanical engineering and holds a Master of Science in criminal justice. He served eight years in the U.S. Army and is a decorated combat veteran with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. His highest military awards include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, multiple Air Medals with Valor Device, the Humanitarian Services Award, and the Purple Heart.
Jim currently resides in Stafford, VA with his wife, Sally. He is most proud of his three wonderful children who are serving in the Army, Air Force & Coast Guard.