PERSPECTIVE: Presidential Pardons and Commutations for Cop Killers: An Affront to Justice

Steve serves as the Executive Director of the INtel & Law Enforcement Training Services (INLETS), a 501c3, non-profit focused on providing violent crime and terrorism training to the law enforcement community.   Starting the program in 2010, he works with a team that produces high level training courses on violent crimes and terrorism with a cadre of subject matter experts.  In the 14 years of the program, they have welcomed over 12,000 attendees from 1,000 agencies, in 47 states and seven countries.  Many call it the best training of their careers and overall rate the courses a 9.3 (of 10).  Steve became the executive director upon retiring from the FBI in 2023.   Steve served 24 years in the FBI, entering into duty in 1998 assigned to the New York Field Office where he served on the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).  There, he responded to and investigated threats and acts of terrorism of domestic-based anti-government extremist groups.     A member of the NY-case squad for the USS Cole bombing and for the NY-area events of the 9/11 attack, Steve was a case agent in the 2001 Anthrax mailings to NY City locations, and served as the JTTF liaison for all threats and special events at Madison Square Garden and the United Nations.    In 2004, he transferred to the US Virgin Islands JTTF.  Based out of St. Thomas, he was the program manager for the threats and crimes to air and seaports within the US and British Virgin Islands.  He supported multi-agency, multi-national intel operations and smuggling investigations. And was a key liaison to the Greater Antilles and Leeward Islands, providing coordination, resources, and preparedness for terrorism and WMD-related events and policy.   In 2006, Shepherd was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent in the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate’s (WMDD) National Preparedness Unit at FBI Headquarters. There he led the development of WMD training programs for the FBI Academy and designed multi-jurisdictional training for state and local agencies and international partners held nationwide.    In 2008, Steve was assigned to the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office.  In 2009, he became a plank holder for the FBI Baltimore Maritime Team, a tactical small boat group supporting underway operations for SWAT, WMD/Hazmat, and bomb tech elements, serving as team leader for three years.  In 2013, he became a Behavioral Analysis Unit Assistant Coordinator working with state and local investigators on unusual, heinous, cold case crimes, and active shooter incidents.  In 2017, Steve additionally became the FBI National Academy Coordinator, developing leadership programs with executive state and local law enforcement.  Further, in 2018, he began serving as the FBI’s Active Shooter Program Coordinator for the AOR, serving on various committees and state government boards with the focus on pre-event indicators of violent offenders.    Steve, an Adjunct Instructor at the FBI Academy, holds a Master’s Degree in Criminology and retired from the FBI on New Years Eve, 2022.