Dr. Frank Straub is the Region 5 Coordinator, Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. He also serves as the Senior Director of Violence Prevention at Safe and Sound Schools where leads several projects to include the national averted school violence database, the development of an e-Guide for school behavioral threat assessment teams interacting with students on the autism spectrum, and the conduct of after-action reviews of critical incidents. He 2023, he led an international team of subject matter experts that reviewed the public safety response to the 2019 Christchurch Mosque shootings.

Previously, Dr. Straub served as the founder and director of the National Policing Institute’s Center for Targeted Violence Prevention. Dr. Straub led in-depth studies of several high- profile mass violence events; created and led the national Averted School Violence database; and consulted with government and non-government organizations regarding the prevention of school violence and online recruitment of vulnerable persons to extremist groups. He has also led national efforts to improve law enforcement crisis intervention strategies and public safety employee mental health.

Dr. Straub served for over 30-years in federal, state, and local law enforcement. He led law enforcement/public safety agencies in New York, Indiana, and the State of Washington. He was the New York City Police Department’s Deputy Commissioner of Training and Assistant Commissioner for Counterterrorism.

Dr. Straub holds a B.A. in Psychology, an M.A. in Forensic Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice. He is a licensed masters-level psychologist in Michigan.