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Robert
Walker's career began in 1956 with the
State of Maryland Department of
Corrections at Patuxent Institution, an institution that, at
that time, incarcerated only habitual criminals, who after an evaluation process
and a subsequent court procedure, usually began an indeterminate
sentence. Eight years
later, in 1964, he left state service as a lieutenant to
begin a career in federal law enforcement.
This new career began with the U.S. Border Patrol on the California/Mexican border where, in addition to his duties involving
the apprehension of illegal aliens and smugglers of aliens, he was involved
in numerous seizures of narcotics. These narcotics investigations opened the door
for a transfer to the U.S. Customs Agency as a Special Agent. In
1970 as a result of the hijacking and destruction of U.S. aircraft
by terrorists overseas, he was temporarily assigned to serve as one of the original sky marshals,
a position that did not previously exist and whose mission was to protect
U.S. registered airlines on international flights all over the world.
After
retiring he became employed with the South Carolina Department of Corrections
with the Office of Internal Affairs and in 1995 he was selected
as Coordinator of the agency's newly created Security Threat Group (gangs)
Unit. As the Coordinator, he was responsible for the development of the
gang identification system and the computerized gang tracking system.
He also developed the STG identification training courses for the agency's
personnel. Other agencies, seeking gang identification training, began
requesting his services and he began providing training seminars for educators
and law enforcement agencies at the city, county, state and federal levels
throughout South Carolina.
After his second retirement in 1998, he became a private consultant
and has given street gang
and prison gang identification classes, at major conferences and seminars,
to educators and law enforcement personnel in the states of
Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho,
Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Texas
and Virginia, the Florence, Colorado Super Max complex, the Southeast Region of the Federal Job Corps and
the National District Attorneys Association at the University of
South Carolina. In addition he has
been a presenter for the National Major Gang Task Force and until his
retirement in 1998, served as an advisory board member of that organization.
In April and November, 2005, he was invited to the Grand Cayman Islands where he gave three four-hour gang identification and community awareness presentations. He also participated in a 90 minute talk radio program where the entire discussion focused on gangs and the potential problem of gangs,
created through the denial of their existence in the Cayman Islands. In
addition he was the subject of several newspaper articles and television interviews,
plus a short breakfast speech to the local Rotary Club. This
display of gang awareness paved the way for the island's newspaper
headlines to
announce - "Police declare war on gangs."
He is an expert on Security Threat Groups and street gangs and has been court qualified as an expert witness in trials involving
gang members in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas and
Virginia. He has also rendered consulting services to cases in the states
of Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and
Wisconsin. Also, he has served as consultant in a federal RICO gang related trial in the 4th Circuit District Court, Richmond, VA.
Gang Related Interviews
Security Threat Groups - 1997 Community Awareness Program - Lafayette, IN - 2010
Motto: Nom Sine Periculo
(Not Without Danger)
Robert Walker
This page was last updated on
03/21/2013
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Robert Walker,
through a law enforcement career that spans six decades (56 years), has amassed
background experiences that are as diverse as any in the field of law enforcement.
In
1973, as a result of a merger between the former Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) and
the U.S. Customs Agency, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) was created as the sole federal
agency responsible for the enforcement of the federal narcotic laws and as
a result, he was transferred, as a Special Agent, to the new agency. During his tenure with DEA he conducted narcotic investigations within and outside of the U.S.,
primarily in Mexico. In 1974, he successfully concluded a 2 1/2
year investigation with a record seizure (since broken) of 42 tons of
marijuana in Mexico. He also participated in numerous overseas special operations in Mexico, South America and the Caribbean Islands for extensive periods of time. He concluded his federal career
in 1986, retiring as the Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration
office in Columbia, South Carolina.
