Law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day to protect Americans from the threat of extremism, terrorism and hate—and are often the first line of defense. The Anti-Defamation League’s Sherwood Prize recognizes those law enforcement professionals who are so committed to their work that they make a significant difference in their communities and serve as role models for their departments.  We honor those officers who go above and beyond the call of duty to protect the community from hatred and bigotry.

Award Specifics
The Sherwood Prize is awarded to honorees at an annual luncheon along with their supervisors, superior officers and their guests.  This is an opportunity to showcase the individual(s)/unit/department’s accomplishments in local media and to share successful programs and activities with other agencies. Previous winners are listed below.

How to Nominate
Law Enforcement personnel, units or departments serving areas in Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties are eligible. The nomination process is now entirely online and forms for nominations can be completed HERE.

Criteria
The award focuses on law enforcement professionals’ (i.e. officers, civilian employees, prosecutors, etc.) activities during the last two calendar years that demonstrate significant achievements in curtailing the prevalence and severity of hate motivated behavior in all parts of our society.

To receive this award, nominee(s) should have demonstrated an overwhelming commitment and contribution towards one or more of the following:

  • Combatting hate crimes and bigotry proactively and/or reactively by:
    • Making an impact on victim(s) of hate crimes and/or bias-motivated incidents;
    • Developing education to reduce hate crimes and bias-motivated activity;
    • Using innovative approaches to enforce or prosecute hate crime laws.
  • Fighting extremism and terrorism by:
    • Identifying and countering emerging threats;
    • Applying innovative investigative techniques to disrupt and/or prevent domestic extremism and terror attacks;
    • Utilizing current laws in inventive ways to prosecute extremists and terrorists.
  • Working to create a more just and inclusive society by:
    • Making meaningful changes within their law enforcement agencies or departments so that they better reflect the communities they serve;
    • Embracing the ideals of community policing, enhancing mutual trust and respect, and breaking down barriers between law enforcement and marginalized peoples.

Advices:

  • Outstanding work alone is not enough. The work has to be related to combatting hate in all of its forms.
  • This award is not a lifetime achievement award, but for extraordinary achievement during a specific time.
  • Executive leadership is not eligible for this award.

Selection Process
A distinguished group of police chiefs and sheriffs, along with the Sherwood Family and the ADL staff, select those individuals whose stellar service and commitment should be recognized.
The current Sherwood Prize Selection Committee members are:

  • Sheriff Donald Barnes, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Chair
  • Assistant Director in Charge Don Alway, FBI, Los Angeles
  • Special Agent in Charge Christopher Bombardiere, ATF, Los Angeles
  • Assistant Chief Blake Chow, Los Angeles Police Department
  • Sheriff Shannon Dicus, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department
  • Sheriff James Fryhoff, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department
  • Chief Larry Gonzalez, Riverside Police Department, Association of Riverside County Chiefs of Police and Sheriff Representative
  • Chief John Icontro, San Marino Police Department, Los Angeles County Police Chiefs Association Representative
  • Chief Michael Kent, Irvine Police Department
  • Sheriff Robert Luna, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
  • Chief Chris Margaris, California Highway Patrol, Southern Division
  • Chief Greg Terry, Bakersfield Police Department

Sherwood Prize Past Recipients
This award has been presented to law enforcement professionals since 1996.  These are the previous three years of recipients:

2023

Senior Lead Officer Danny Chao
Los Angeles Police Department
Senior Lead Officer Danny Chao acts as the Asian Pacific Island Community Liaison for the Los Angeles Police Department. In this capacity, Senior Lead Officer Chao works closely with the various Asian Consuls General and their staff to provide open communication related to public safety issues and to foster long-term relationships with those countries’ law enforcement agencies. The City of Los Angeles is home to one of the largest API populations in the United States and as the API Liaison, Senior Lead Chao is actively engaged with key stakeholders from each of the communities to bridge the gap between the communities and law enforcement. In this capacity, Senior Lead Officer Chao works in close partnership with LAPD Command Staff officers to include the API Coordinator and others to conduct strategic outreach to
the executives of API organizations. During the pandemic, not only has Senior Lead Officer Chao demonstrated an overwhelming commitment to our city, but his contributions were particularly significant in combating hate crimes and bigotry both proactively and reactively by creating tools to better assist and protect the community he serves.

Volunteer Dimitri Kermani
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Dimitri Kermani is a volunteer at West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station and the CEO of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Foundation. Dimitri has worked tirelessly on behalf of the Jewish community and strengthened the relationship between the Jewish community and law enforcement to help improve community safety. He has leveraged his relationships at the Department to connect victims of targeted antisemitic attacks with LASD leaders to discuss their experiences and aid local law enforcement in preventing future attacks.

Commander Shannon Paulson
Los Angeles Police Department
During her tenure as the Commanding Officer of the LAPD’s Wilshire Division, Commander Shannon Paulson excelled in the art of law enforcement outreach and engagement in support of public safety. Her efforts included a focus on combatting incidents of hate and assisting targeted communities, especially the Jewish community, recover from hate crimes and overcome the fear instilled by incidents of hate. Most notably, she was an instrumental partner to ADL when the antisemitic attack took place at Sushi Fumi in May 2021. Commander Paulson has proven her ability to create long-lasting partnerships with various diverse communities, generate dialogue on issues of hate and bias, and show how law enforcement and the community can work together to increase safety and security for everyone.

Dr. Erroll Southers
University of Southern California
Dr. Erroll Southers has been an instrumental figure in combating hate domestically and internationally. Dr. Southers is the Associate Senior Vice President of Safety & Risk Assurance and Professor of the Practice in National and Homeland Security at USC. He was previously the Director of the Safe Communities Institute (SCI) and Homegrown Violent Extremism Studies at the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy. In 2020, Dr. Southers cofounded the LEWIS (Law Enforcement Work Inquiry System) Registry at the Safe Communities Institute, creating the first national database of police officers who were terminated or resigned due to misconduct. Ultimately, LEWIS will ensure that departments hire the best possible candidates as well as prevent officers who have participated in misconduct
from ‘bouncing’ among departments. In an effort to cultivate mutual respect between community and law enforcement, LEWIS will offer BRIDGES, a program designed to educate the community and law enforcement on specific actions that support respect and trust during routine traffic stops.

Captain Joses Walehwa
Orange County Sheriff’s Department
Through cultivating cultural understanding and championing the importance of equity and inclusion, Orange County Sheriff’s Department Captain Joses Walehwa has worked to create meaningful change for the department in the last two years. Captain Walehwa truly cares about the growth and well-being of not only the diverse communities he serves, but also of the men and women he serves within law enforcement. The enhancements he implemented at the Regional Training Academy instill the importance of community relations in future law enforcement officers. In addition, the panel discussions and the community fieldtrips he led demonstrated how to break down barriers and foster mutual understanding and respect between diverse communities and law enforcement. His leadership at the Sheriff’s Department with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiative illustrates the importance of having the department’s personnel reflect the communities it serves.

2022

Individuals:

Assistant District Attorney Paul Kim
Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office
A member of the District Attorney’s Office since 2000,  ADA Kim joined the Hate Crimes Unit more than seven years ago and has been a leader in its development. For the first three years, Kim was the sole member of the unit, which now boasts three attorneys. While prosecuting complex, multi-jurisdictional and often high-profile cases, Kim excels in community outreach with community-based organizations and non-profits associated with raising awareness and finding strategies in combating hate crimes throughout the county. He secured a $200,000 federal grant to launch an innovative two-year, post-conviction pilot project at the District Attorney’s Office that aims to curtail hate crimes and xenophobia at a time when such crimes have surged. He was the architect of the project, which will provide hate crime probationers with counseling, anti-bias education, and victim reconciliation in a controlled setting.

Faith-based Liaison Officer Kathleen Kooiman
Orange County Sheriff’s Department
Faith-based Liaison Officer Kathleen Kooiman contributes greatly to the fight against extremism and hate with innovative best practices recognized by federal, state, and local public safety partners for her efforts in bridging, “safety and security in your backyard” through her Faith Liaison program (FLO) in Orange County, California. Mrs. Kooiman initiated an organic shift in how law enforcement bridges houses of worship and faith-based communities; The direct and indirect effect of her efforts contribute to greater community partnership between community partners, law enforcement, and the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center (OCIAC). y partners, law enforcement, and the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center (OCIAC). We recognize Mrs. Kooiman for her legacy of law enforcement cooperation in our communities to improve and enhance law enforcement’s trust. Mrs. Kooiman is overwhelming committed to changes in our communities. Her efforts are unpaid, an OCSD volunteer who has committed close to 2,000 hours in the past year through weekly, evenings, and weekend events.

Deputy District Attorney Leonard Trinh
San Diego County District Attorney’s Office
Given California’s unsettling 30% increase in hate crimes and incidents, our safety and resilience depend on having a passionate, experienced prosecutor who deeply cares about our community; understands the obstacles to reporting and prosecution of hate crimes; and diligently overcomes them to obtain justice. San Diego is fortunate to have Deputy District Attorney Leonard Trinh in this role. Since becoming the San Diego County District Attorney’s lead hate crimes prosecutor in 2017, DDA Trinh has worked to increase community trust, address underreporting, and train police officers and investigators, causing hate crime prosecutions and convictions to triple in San Diego County. DDA Trinh’s contributions during the past two years are particularly noteworthy. At the start of the pandemic, when attacks on the API community increased across the country, DDA Trinh helped to spearhead creation of California’s first online reporting tool, which enabled victims of hate crimes and incidents to report directly to the DA’s office, ensuring that potential cases never slipped through the cracks.  DDA Trinh obtained justice and prosecuted the Poway Synagogue gunman and obtained a Life Without the Possibility of Parole sentence this past September.

Groups:

Mark Domingo Investigation and Trial Team
Federal Bureau of Investigation-Los Angeles Field Division, United States Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California, Naval Criminal Intelligence Services, Los Angeles Police Department
In Mark Steven Domingo’s own words, he “hate[d] everyone.” In March and April 2019, Domingo, a former United States Army infantryman with combat experience in Afghanistan, took steps to express his hatred through violence in the form of an attack on a political rally Bluff Park in the City of Long Beach. He planned to place and detonate pressure cooker bombs in a crowded area and use his AK-47-style assault rifle to shoot fleeing victims. Domingo intended to kill as many people as possible to avenge the March 15, 2019 killing of Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, and to spark civil unrest that would weaken America’s ability to fight ISIS and other Jihadist groups overseas. He repeatedly told people online and in person that he was willing to die as a martyr and wanted to kill various groups of Americans, including police officers, Jews walking to synagogue, Christians, military personnel, and ultimately, attendees at a political rally. But before an attack could take place, working with the JTTF and an undercover informant, law enforcement was able to thwart the attack from ever happening.  Domingo was sentenced on November 1, 2021 to 25 years’ imprisonment and an additional 20 years of supervised release.

Irvine Police Department Hate Crime and Incident Response Portal
In response to the increase of hate crimes and hate incidents, the Irvine Police Department (IPD) sought to find innovative ways to engage with our community. We recognize that hate speech and hate incidents can be indicators of potential behavior escalation. To address these important issues, in 2021, IPD launched a comprehensive online Hate Crime and Hate Incident reporting portal. The portal allows for members of our community to report Hate Crimes and Hate Incidents in seven different languages. It allows them to provide their name, report anonymously, or report the incident as a witness. It also allows the reporting party to submit evidence such as video, photographs, or documents. In order to spread the word about this new comprehensive initiative, IPD and the City of Irvine launched a campaign to educate our community.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Criminal Intelligence Division
San Bernardino County is the largest geographical county in the United States and is comprised of diverse races, religions, genders, sexual orientations. This diversity can encourage extremist groups to engage in terror attacks. This was witnessed at the terrorist mass shooting at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino in 2015. Since that attack, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Detectives Jeremiah Cornett, Sean Tabor, and Michael Kassis worked hard to identify emerging trends and sought to disrupt and prevent domestic terrorism and terror attacks. A recent study by the National Institute of Justice found prisoner radicalization grows in the secretive underground of inmate subcultures through prison gangs and extremist interpretations of religious doctrines that inspire ideologies of intolerance, hatred and violence. In 2020, Jeremiah, Sean, and Michaeldiscovered a significant gap in San Bernardino County’s ability to identify inmates with radicalized extremist beliefs in their county jail facilities. They also identified a gap in communication, information sharing, and education within the San Bernardino County jail facilities and its partner agencies on the local, state, and federal levels. To combat this gap, they discovered they needed to implement innovative techniques to improve recognition and awareness of extremist group recruitment and radicalization within the correctional facilities and community.

2021

Officer Leon Hines
California Highway Patrol
As a community activist and founder/pastor of the Vessels of Honor Ministries in North Hollywood, veteran California Highway Patrol Officer Leon Hines has been committed throughout his 18 year law enforcement career to building connections and breaking down barriers between cultures and communities to combat hatred, bigotry, and biases.  Born and raised in Compton, Officer Hines volunteers his time helping to mentor teenagers from the Black community and helps to enhance mutual trust between the police and marginalized communities.  Officer Hines does not shy away from the fact that it can be difficult to be a Black officer in the Black community. He is often questioned about whose “side” he is on, and whether he is a black man first or an officer first. He also is frequently approached by fellow law enforcement officers as a resource to help understand the marginalized communities which they serve.  By following a simple doctrine that he “[a]lways sides with what is right,” Officer Hines has been able to successfully balance both departmental policy and his personal beliefs.

Detective Douglas Roysdon
San Diego County Sheriff’s Department
Over the last two years, Detective Douglas Roysdon has served as the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department’s detective in charge of identifying hate groups and assisting investigations related to hate crimes and domestic terrorism.  Through his steadfast dedication, including identifying and observing suspects while off-duty, Detective Roysdon has been involved in the arrest over 150 individuals connected to hate-related groups and ideologies.    Detective Roysdon also assists detectives who lack hate crime investigation experience; trains department personnel on hate crime investigations; works with the District Attorney’s Office to ensure successful prosecution of hate crimes; serves as liaison between the department and several community groups; and advises the Sheriff Department’s senior leadership.  His direct involvement has led to the success of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department in responding, investigating, and prosecuting hate crime cases throughout the second largest county in California.

Inglewood Hate Crime Investigation and Prosecution
California Highway Patrol, Inglewood Police Department, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Los Angeles Police Department
Over the course of several days in August 2018, Daniel Martinez, a documented gang member, went on a shooting spree targeting unsuspecting Black victims due to his bias against African Americans. The perpetrator shot and killed two individuals and shot at and injured a number of other people, targeting them all because of the color of their skin. Although the cases spanned several days and three separate law enforcement jurisdictions, investigators from CHP, LAPD and Inglewood PD worked together to connect the cases, and then identify, apprehend and arrest the suspect so he could no longer prey on the citizens of Los Angeles County. The suspect is facing murder and attempted murder charges filed by the LA District Attorney, with special allegations for bias motivated crimes.

Palm Springs Police Detectives Hate Crimes Investigations
Palm Springs Police Department
Starting with what appeared to be an act of vandalism and shots-fired as part on-going gang feud this past summer, Palm Springs Police Detectives combined technical savvy and innovative investigative techniques to determine that victims were being targeted because of their perceived race/ethnicity.  Investigations into the increase of gun-related violence between a predominantly Black gang and a predominantly Hispanic gang revealed that individuals with no known gang affiliations were attacked because of their alleged Mexican descent.  Through Social Media Search Warrants and the review of countless amounts of social media accounts belonging to members of both gangs, PSPD Detectives were able to arrest and charge a suspected violent gang member with attempted homicide and hate crime charges. Detectives are now looking at other cases related to the ongoing gang violence with different lenses, not only with gang related charges, but with hate crime charges as well.

Southern California Law Enforcement Honored Virtually for Extraordinary Service Fighting Hate