Episode 10
Bonus episode: community policing with lt. robbie williams
Behind the Crime Scene - A True Crime Podcast
Episode 9
Now more than ever, bridging the gap between law enforcement and their communities is a priority. In this special bonus episode, Gina and Tracy speak with Lieutenant Robbie Williams about his experience of growing up in the projects and distrusting law enforcement to becoming a subject matter expert in community policing.
Special Guest
lieutenant robbie williams
Robbie Williams is a 24-year veteran with the Hawthorne Police Department and is currently a Community Affairs Bureau Commander. His past assignments and roles include; Special Victims Investigation Supervisor, and Robbery & Homicide Investigation. Prior to his career in Law Enforcement,
Robbie served in the United States Marine Corps and as a Mental Health Social Worker at Portals Mental Health Rehabilitation Center in Los Angeles, California. The center featured transitional residential services, a day treatment program and vocational training services. In addition, Robbie taught group psychosocial education focused on independent living skills, substance abuse, medication management, and anger management skills for individuals that suffered from a dual diagnosis of substance addiction and server to mild mental health disorders.
Robbie remains active at addressing national issues as a community dialogue facilitator and as a subject-matter expert in ‘community-policing’ best practices. In addition to the aforementioned responsibilities in previous positions, Robbie successfully founded the nonprofit organization, Coffee with A Cop Inc. Coffee with A Cop is one of the largest and fastest-growing community policing dialogue programs in America- currently hosted in over twenty-six countries, and spoken in over five different languages.
Robbie is the recipient of the 2015- Homer Garrott Community Service Award presented to him by the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. Robbie has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice and a Master of Science Degree in Counseling with a specialization in Marriage Family Therapy and completed over 300 hours of supervised clinical counseling with groups, families and individuals at Helpline Youth Counseling, in Downey, California. During his internship at Helpline, Robbie provided consumer-oriented therapy that combined traditional psychotherapy with a practical, problem-solving approach that offered an efficient pathway for change and conflict resolution. During the said role, Robbie taught parenting skills, life skills, anger management, and non-violent conflict resolution skills to teenagers and young adults.
Robbie is an experienced adjunct faculty who has taught Community Orientated Policing and Introduction to Criminal Justice at the community college level. Robbie currently serves as a P.O.S.T Instructor at the California State University of Long Beach, where he has developed and teaches a mental health crisis management class for police officers in accordance with California Assembly Bill 29 and Assembly Bill 11. Robbie has a track record of improving police/community engagement and public safety by hosting quarterly community-based-educational workshops that focus on sexual assault prevention, victim-offender mediation and property theft prevention.