In addition to Messrs. Johnson and Witzel and attorneys and support staff from Fried Frank, the OIM is comprised of four experienced and prominent police practices experts. Below is a brief summary of the backgrounds of the key individual members of the monitoring team:
William F. Johnson, Independent Monitor
Mr. Johnson is a litigation partner resident in Fried Frank’s New York office, and part of the Firm’s Enforcement & Investigations practice, where he represents individuals and entities in white-collar criminal and regulatory matters and conducts internal investigations for institutions and audit committees. Prior to joining Fried Frank, Mr. Johnson served as a prosecutor at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and as an attorney at the SEC. Mr. Johnson was the Chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he led a unit of prosecutors, law enforcement agents, and staff in all aspects of fraud investigations, trials, appeals, and other litigation.
Steven M. Witzel, Independent Monitor
Mr. Witzel is a litigation partner in the Firm’s New York office, and a member of the Firm’s Enforcement & Investigations practice. He concentrates his practice within the Firm’s government investigations and regulatory counseling practice in white-collar criminal defense, securities enforcement, and regulatory interactions. Mr. Witzel has represented several boards and committees of public and private companies in conducting confidential internal investigations. Prior to joining Fried Frank, Mr. Witzel served as a criminal prosecutor at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and as a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Mr. Gruber has nearly forty years of experience as a law enforcement officer and police executive. He served as the Chief of Police in four jurisdictions between 1976 and 2008 – Quincy, Illinois; Shreveport, Louisiana; Elgin, Illinois; and South Barrington, Illinois. Mr. Gruber is a former President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (“IACP”), has chaired the IACP’s Professional Standards Committee, and is a former President of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. Mr. Gruber was a member of the team that monitored the Oakland (California) Police Department and has served as a police practices expert in connection with a number of DOJ investigations of local police agencies.
Ms. Doherty retired in 2003 as the Superintendent in the Office of the Police Commissioner for the Boston Police Department. During her more than twenty‑five years with the Boston Police Department, Ms. Doherty attained every current sworn rank. She has a law degree from the Suffolk University Law School and has been a member of the Massachusetts Bar since 1979. From 2005 to 2008, Ms. Doherty was a police practices expert with the team that monitored MPD. She also has been a police practices expert for the DOJ Civil Rights Division, where she has focused on use of force issues.
Mr. Stewart has nearly thirty years of experience as a law enforcement officer and police executive. After twenty years with MPD and two years with the Tallahassee Police Department, Mr. Stewart served as the Chief of the Ormond Beach (Florida) Police Department for five years. Mr. Stewart is a former Executive Director of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. He served as the Director of Training for the Louisville Metro Police Department, the Interim Director of Public Safety for the Newark Campus of Rutgers University, and the Interim Police Director for the Camden (New Jersey) Police Department. Mr. Stewart has consulted with numerous police agencies across the United States, as well as worked as the lead consultant on a DOJ civil rights investigation and served as a monitor pursuant to the settlement of private-party litigation involving the Hobbs (New Mexico) Police Department.
While each member of the OIM plays a substantive and important role in monitoring the Virgin Island’s and VIPD’s progress under the Consent Decree, Messrs. Johnson and Witzel, as the Independent Monitors, bear the primary and ultimate responsibility for fulfilling the Monitor’s duties under the Consent Decree.