Michael A. Tobia

Michael A. Tobia, Ed.D is an independent Security Consultant for several large entertainment venues in the New York region. Prior to this position, he was an Associate Research Professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey for the Department of  Homeland Security (DHS) Center of Excellence. The Center conducted extensive research in stadium security for major league sports and entertainment industry including NFL, MLB, and NASCAR. This work is published on the DHS SAFETY Act website and provides venue operators with best practices, performance metrics, and training guidance to include in their security program. The Center is currently researching simple randomization designs to enhance security, and economic benefits and costs of security at stadiums.

In 2008, Dr. Tobia received an appointment to the DHS Office of University Programs to advance research knowledge products, tools, and methods to the first responder community in Federal, State and Local governmental agencies. He remained in this position for nine (9)years.

Dr. Tobia has a distinguished 26-year career at the Port Authority Police Department of  New York and New Jersey retiring at the rank of Full Inspector, Commanding Officer of the Bus Terminal in New York City. During his service at the PAPD, he progressed through several positions of increased scope and responsibility culminating in several key leadership roles that included; Office of Counter-Terrorism unit- specializing in risk assessment, threat analysis and mitigation; Office of Emergency Management(OEM)- conducting preparedness exercises,  drills, coordination; and Training Director of the Police Academy -overseeing recruit, basic supervision, middle management and executive development curricula.

Education includes a Bachelor Degree of Science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Master Degree in Education, and Doctorate from Seton Hall University, a member Community Policing Institute, Certified Protection Professional (CPP) from the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS), and recognized Security expert by the National Football League.

Dr. Tobia is a September 11, 2001 first responder to the World Trade Center and worked for an extended period in the emergency response and recovery efforts at ground zero. He is an accomplished field Commander in Incident Management and emergency operations as well as intelligence sharing, resource coordination, and risk assessment.

Published work includes; “Best Practices in Anti-Terrorism Security for Sporting and Entertainment Venues”, CICCADA Research Team, 2016; “Experimental Designs for Testing Metal Detectors at a Large Sports Stadium” 2015; “Public Safety Crowd Management.”2012 National and Educational Training Division.