ACIA - Cliff Aguiar: Leading the way in Law Enforcement

Episode: 0014

Title: Cliff Aguiar: Leading the way in Law Enforcement 

Release Date:  November 2021

Podcast Writer: Paige Keningale 

Theme Song: Wolf Moon- Unicorn Heads. 

Voice overs: Dr Susanne Knabe-nicol/ Police Science Dr

Podcast Email: [email protected] 

Podcast Webpage: https://www.acia.org.uk/Podcasts ,  https://www.leapodcasts.com/ 

ACIA Snippet resources: Targeting Knife-Enabled Homicides for Preventive Policing: A Stratified Resource Allocation Model | SpringerLink

Other resources: https://ocan.ca/cliff-aguiar/

Podcast Social Media: Twitter: ACIA_org,  LinkedIn: Association of Crime and Intelligence Analysts (UK). 

Timings 

00:00:17- Introducing Cliff 
00:00:48- How Cliff started in Law Enforcement 
00:08:41- Being an analyst 
00:19:25- Being a Director of OCAN and how this links to linking to silos  
00:25:39- The analyst role: where we are, where we are going, where we want to be

Bio:

I began my career at York Regional Police in 2008 as a District Crime Analyst serving the regions of Newmarket and Markham and eventually serving as a Crime Analyst for the region of Vaughan and King for four years.  Some of my responsibilities included analyzing data and applying research methods to identify crime patterns and series, modus operandi profiles, victim/target profiles and identifying high crime/call areas or locations where public disorder are likely to occur.  Moreover, the District Crime Analyst forecasts, projects and analyzes crime by conducting correlation and regression analysis and using various investigative analysis software, database programs, statistical calculations and other computer software to determine if crimes are linked.  We are also responsible for identifying and monitoring known criminals/organizations and any potential police hazards within the community. 

After years of service in the Districts and embedded with the York communities, I was assigned to the Intelligence Unit where I worked as a strategic analyst while assigned to a variety of organized crime portfolios.  I believe that I am considered a subject matter expert as it relates to Eastern European Organized Crime (EEOC), Organized Distraction Thefts and Fraud Investigations and have several Intelligence Reports that warrant my awareness of these crime types and organizational groups.  I supported 5 different criminal portfolios on a tactical and strategic level inclusive of Fraud, Hold Up, Drugs & Vice and Eastern European Organized Crime (Georgian Organized Crime) understanding principles of organized crime and gang intelligence in Canada.  My functions included developing meticulous linkage analysis charts while producing detailed and referenced strategic intelligence reports.  I also analyzed electronic records meticulously producing reports for investigative practice and disclosure and testified at several trials including delivery testimony in an attempted murder investigation in relation to the movement of the accused parties telephone records and tower locations.  I am also considered well versed in the area of social media analysis with advanced capabilities at discovering identities online while utilizing open source searches and software to manage organizational risk.  In 2009 I was awarded the Crime Analyst of the year award after being nominated by senior officials for his analytical support in several criminal investigations and for exceeding the organizations values with respect to teamwork and accountability.  

As a result of my extensive experiences and background, I was asked by senior officials to be seconded to the newly formed Real Time Operations Centre (RTOC) at York Regional Police as a Criminal Intelligence Analyst to assist in creating / developing the crime analyst position.   After a successful eight months of testing, the position was made permanent and I was assigned to create the job posting and assist in the staffing and training of a secondary analyst.   The Real Time Operations Centre analyst is highly tactical, responding to officers live with a variety of requests while triaging the calls for service to seek organization and officer risk in real time.  The position has a strategic component that requires the analyst to ingest criminal information and produce strategic intelligence reports addressing areas of risk including gang intelligence, organized crime, money laundering, terrorism, cyber intelligence, drugs and weapons.  

 Prior to my service with York Regional Police, I was employed as a Fraud Investigator with several financial institutions while pursuing my honourary bachelor’s degree in Criminology from the University of Toronto where I graduated with honours.   Experiences in the financial institutions included investigating skimming files, internal fraud investigations, money laundering investigations and cybercrime.  In addition to these investigative duties, I provided internal training to members of the financial institutions on detecting fraud and created an online forum for recognizing fraud patterns with the intention of providing support for employees to stop fraud at the front end.   I was both nominated and awarded several internal awards at the Royal Bank of Canada and Meridian Credit Union for innovative strategies in combatting crime while championing training and education surrounding fraud mechanisms. 

In late 2015 I was invited to assist officials at Seneca College in developing a Bachelor of Criminal Intelligence and Analysis program by reviewing the program map and making recommendations for new courses that would promulgate the course to new levels and provide students with an innovative program designed to reflect current analytical strategies.  Some of the new courses created included Organized Crime in Canada, Gang Intelligence and Social Media Networking and Analysis.  In January 2016 I was then invited to teach Diversity and First Nations to students of the Police Foundations course at Seneca College overseeing approximately 90 students and providing a forum in understanding issues in Diversity (race, gender, sexual orientation) as it is applied in policing as well as exploring First Nation experiences in Canada.

I was also the Creator and Co-chair of an Internal Support Network (ISN) at York Regional Police called YRP Pride.   The ISN provides a forum of support for members of the organization an avenue to garner support, feel inclusive, as well as developing external and internal partnerships to champion training and education surrounding issues in LGBTQ policing and Transgendered issues.  In 2016 I founded the organizations first public event hosting members of the community who are transgendered to speak to YRP officers about their experiences and beginning to form open discussions about Transgendered issues.   The ISN is the largest at YRP with over 35 members who oversee attending public events (Pride).  In 2016 the ISN was awarded with an award for “Outstanding Community Service” by PFLAG for maintaining excellent external partnerships with perpetuating positive community member relations.

In May of 2020 I was invited by the Ontario Chief Coroner's Office (OCCO) to serve as a crime analyst for Broken Trust - a reinvestigaton of nine sudden deaths in Thunder Bay.  The release for that extraordinary report will be released in 2021 and will serve to invigorate discussions in the policing community.