Full article by Anthony “Tony” Mottola and Richard Schoeberl, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has classified the Sovereign Citizen movement as a domestic terrorist threat. To prepare law enforcement officials and other public safety agencies for the risks associated with this movement, agencies need to revise policies, procedures, and training to be more effective in handling encounters with extremist movements.
Learn about the Sovereign Citizen movement and how law enforcement agencies can be better prepared.
Now to the featured article.
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Anthony (Tony) Mottola
Anthony (Tony) Mottola, Ph.D., has over 35 years of law enforcement and security experience, including the New York City Police Department, United States Air Force, and the National Basketball Association (NBA). He retired as a sergeant detective (SDS) after 25 years as a member of the New York Police Department (NYPD). He served as executive officer for the NYPD Intelligence Bureau’s Strategic Unit, which is a covert counterterrorism initiative, and director of the Domestic Liaison Program. He represented the Intelligence Bureau in numerous investigations, including the Boston Bombing, civil unrest, mass shootings, and large-scale incidents outside New York City. During his tenure with the NYPD, he worked additional assignments in Counter Terrorism, Gang Intelligence, Detective Bureau, Task Force, Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit, anti-gang/graffiti units, and patrol. He was a first responder/search leader for recovery efforts and supervisor of security details in the immediate aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks. Dr. Mottola has conducted extensive research into human trafficking, labor trafficking, border operations, and transnational organized crime. He is currently an assistant professor of Criminology and Homeland Security at the University of Tennessee-Southern.
Richard Schoeberl
Richard Schoeberl, Ph.D., has over 30 years of law enforcement experience, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). He has served in a variety of positions throughout his career, ranging from a supervisory special agent at the FBI’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to unit chief of the International Terrorism Operations Section at the NCTC’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Before these organizations, he worked as a special agent investigating violent crime, human trafficking, international terrorism, and organized crime. Additionally, he has authored numerous scholarly articles, serves as a peer mentor with the Police Executive Research Forum, is currently a professor of Criminology and Homeland Security at the University of Tennessee Southern, and works with Hope for Justice – a global nonprofit combating human trafficking.
