Allen R. Sondej, JD, DSc
Interview Topics
Law Enforcement Best Practices, Accreditation, and Training; Public Safety Accountability Systems; Use of Force; Civil Security Leadership, Policy, and Management; Policymaking in the Public Sector; Unmanned Aircraft Systems/Drones
Media Contact
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Dr. Allen R. Sondej was a police officer for 25 years, retiring in 2013 as a Commanding Officer in a mid-sized central New Jersey police department. Prior to this he served as a police officer in Trenton, NJ. While serving as a police officer, he maintained a private consulting business concentrating on risk and liability mitigation to numerous corporations. He has also served as the Director of Training for several non-profit law enforcement training organizations.
Prior to his law enforcement career, Professor Sondej served in the United States Marine Corps Military Police and was called back to active service in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He was also the President of the New Jersey Public Safety Accreditation Coalition and a commissioner for the NJSACOP Law Enforcement Accreditation Program.
Dr. Sondej is the author of Operational Policy Making for Professional Security: Practical Policy Skills for the Public and Private Sector. The book is designed to assist organizational policy makers develop and implement highly effective policy.
He received his Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice from Mercer County Community College and earned his Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from New Jersey City University and was one of the very few to do it with a concentration in Professional Security. He earned his Juris Doctor from Seton Hall University School of Law and his Doctor of Science from New Jersey City University. He is a graduate of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, the prestigious West Point Command and Leadership School, where he was awarded the Chief Harry Wilde award for academic excellence. He is also a graduate of the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar.
Dr. Sondej is an attorney admitted to the New Jersey Bar and the bar of the Federal District Court of New Jersey. He is currently of Counsel to a Pennington N.J. law firm. He has experience in patents and acquisitions, public sector employment law, labor law, municipal and appellate practice, and board compliance and operations.
His doctoral dissertation focused on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and their impact on local law enforcement. He was also a member of the NJIT/NJCU/BEOC UAS research core team. This operational research, a product of a public-private partnership was focused on the employment of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in emergency management situations. The UAS core team was the first organization to fly an unmanned aircraft in the national airspace, in NJ under a FAA certificate of authorization. Dr. Sondej served operationally as the ground safety officer and provided policy research and support.
He is also an in-service police instructor in New Jersey and teaches in the areas of law, liability, police best practices, and unmanned aircraft systems. He is currently a full-time professor at Berkeley College in the Justice Studies program and has over 17 years of teaching experience in higher education.
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