Melvin L. Blizzard Jr.

Director
Metropolitan Washington, DC Fusion Center

Melvin L. Blizzard Jr. served a lengthy and distinguished career with the Baltimore County (Maryland) Police Department, which is nationally accredited.  His employment began in 1974 working his way through the ranks to Captain, and being a member of the Executive Corps.  During his tenure, he gained vast experience in the areas of patrol, criminal investigations, media relations, internal affairs investigations, narcotics, intelligence, grants management, personnel management, hostage negotiations, crisis management, emergency preparedness, mental health, and team/section development.  He served as the commander of the Hostage Negotiation Team, the Behavioral Assessment Unit and Crisis Management Section.  After the tragedies that occurred on September 11, 2001 his Chief, Terrence Sheridan, and former County Executive “Dutch” Ruppersberger selected him to be the Emergency Preparedness Commander.  He last served as Commanding Officer of the Office of Homeland Security. Captain Blizzard retired in July 2004 to accept a Governor’s Office appointment to the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) as the Chief of the Office of Domestic Preparedness and Law Enforcement Liaison. Under that appointment he was responsible for protection strategies for all Maryland’s critical infrastructure and key assets and he coordinated law enforcement activities reporting to the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security, the Director of MEMA, and the Adjutant General of Maryland.  Maryland became the first state in the nation to become accredited by the Department of Homeland Security to protect critical asset information. He was the liaison with the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center (a fusion center). He works as an associate with the University of Maryland and Professor Bilal Ayyub in the development of the Critical Asset and Portfolio Risk Analysis (CAPRA), a methodology for assessing risk.

He was a member of the hostage negotiation team for 15 years and was the commanding officer of the team.  He led the team during the March 2000 negotiation process of the Palczynski Hostage/Barricade Incident, the second longest static hostage barricade in U.S. history.
In 1998 he was empowered to develop new and innovative approaches to reduce crime and violence, and promote a better quality of life for the citizens of Baltimore County and the State of Maryland.  Upon return from training in California under Gavin de Becker in advanced threat assessment management, he created the Workplace Violence Team, to combat violence in the workplace with a special emphasis on domestic violence.  The Behavioral Assessment Unit was formed from its success. 

The emerging need to formulate a stronger infrastructure in the arena of crisis management, coupled with the desire to build stronger partnerships with other county governmental agencies allowed him to partner with the Health Department and create the Mobile Crisis Teams. This concept, mobile units responding to call for people in crisis, is now a national model.

He has traveled across the United States and to other countries teaching hostage negotiation tactics, mental health disorders and workplace violence protocols and homeland security strategies. He currently teaches emergency preparedness/homeland security strategies to many agencies and entities. He was member of a committee with the Harford County Public School System in Maryland developing a Homeland Security/Emergency Preparedness High School Curriculum which is intended to be deployed state-wide in the next few years.

He has compiled numerous hours with print and television media on many topics and participated in national publications.  One such publication was Building LinkagesBetween Law Enforcement and Mental Health Professionals by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. He participated in the development of two nationally aired documentaries on hostage negotiations (USA-History Channel/United Kingdom Productions).

He has worked closely with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Washington on such matters as vulnerability assessment methodologies, buffer zone protection plans and DHS grants. He also coordinated grant opportunities with the Maryland Governor’s Office of Grants and the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention. He was the Program Manager for the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program grants from DHS.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, he was sent by the state of Maryland to act as the Incident Commander for the medical relief efforts in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.
In 2006 he was invited to Israel on a study mission focusing on Homeland Security and then to Bosnia with the Maryland National Guard to teach military members in the Incident Command System and Incident Management Teams.

In June 2007 he was appointed as Executive Director of the Intelligence Fusion Division, Bureau of Homeland Security with the Metropolitan Police Department in the District of Columbia under Chief Cathy Lanier. He is the also the Director for the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center He currently oversees the Synchronized Operations Command, Joint Operations Center, JTTF, CCTV, Criminal Intelligence, Violence Interdiction, Gang Intervention and ShotSpotter.
He maintains his membership and association with the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association and the MML Chiefs Association.