At a ceremony the evening of Tuesday, July 23, SEARCH Executive Director David J. Roberts — whose retirement became effective that day — was honored with SEARCH’s top practitioner honor: The 2024 O.J. Hawkins Award for Innovative Leadership and Outstanding Contributions in Criminal Justice Information Systems, Policy and Statistics.
The SEARCH Board of Directors selected Mr. Roberts for the honor earlier in the year and kept its selection secret, surprising him with its presentation at a reception at the 2024 SEARCH Annual Meeting, held in at the Horseshoe Las Vegas Hotel in Las Vegas, NV.
SEARCH Chair Jason Bright presented Mr. Roberts with the award, noting that he is being recognized for a nearly 45-year career supporting justice information technology, policy, planning and research in state and federal governments, national nonprofit organizations, and private industry. Mr. Roberts is known for his expertise, vision, work ethic, confidence and leadership that has earned him the respect of peers and justice leaders nationwide.
Mr. Roberts had served as SEARCH Executive Director from December 2017 until July 2024, when he handed over the reins to his successor, Mr. Derek Veitenheimer — but his involvement with SEARCH spans a quarter-century:
- He served as a governor-appointee to the SEARCH Membership Group for the State of Wyoming in 1985.
- He joined SEARCH Staff in January 1986, serving through December 2002, in leadership positions including Deputy Executive Director. In the course of those 17 years, he directed multiple national projects in systems, technology, research, and statistics that provided technical assistance, training, systems development, research and online resources; directed multiple national conferences and symposia, particularly several that focused on justice integration; and authored foundational documents in justice information sharing.
Former SEARCH Executive Director Gary R. Cooper, who hired Mr. Roberts, said, “It became clear that the decision I made to hire Dave was one of the most important and significant decisions I made in the 30 years I was with SEARCH.” He noted that Mr. Roberts, who probably controlled 3/4ths of SEARCH staff and 2/3rds of its budget, “excelled at supervising his staff, managing his many grant projects and overseeing contract work, producing excellent publications, valuable service to numerous state and local justice agencies and earning the respect our funding agencies had for SEARCH. For the most part these publications were approved by the Board of Directors or the Membership Group and became models for state and local justice agencies, vendors and consultants. All of this contributed to SEARCH’s reputation as a national leader.”
According to Mr. Cooper, SEARCH’s publications and thought leadership, as driven by Mr. Roberts, influenced the policy and practices of U.S. Department of Justice entities such as BJS, BJA, NIJ, OJJDP, and OJARS. Through Mr. Roberts, SEARCH also carried its message to the senior levels of DOJ, as well as the FBI and a host of other federal agencies, and advocated legislative initiatives with many committees and subcommittees of both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
- Mr. Roberts rejoined SEARCH staff in 2017 following an extensive national search for a new Executive Director, and was cited for being a “strategic and proactive leader in areas important to SEARCH — including the management and sharing of justice information, IT policy, planning and implementation, and standards development,” by then-SEARCH Chair Brad Truitt.
As Executive Director, Mr. Roberts supported SEARCH’s business lines in criminal history law and policy, justice information sharing, cybercrime and digital evidence training, and research and statistics. He also served as Executive Director of the Open Justice Broker Consortium (OJBC), the technical development arm of SEARCH, which provides software and data engineering services for state/local jurisdictions nationwide.In his tenure as Executive Director for the past 6½ years, Mr. Roberts is credited with strengthening and restoring SEARCH’s relationships and partnerships with a long list of federal agencies, associations, and organizations.
Mr. Roberts began his career in 1980 as Director of the Center for Criminal Justice Research in the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office – the state’s statistical analysis center. Following his first stint with SEARCH (1986–2002), he was Director of the Global Justice and Public Safety Practice for Unisys Corp., Principal of a justice consulting firm, Senior Program Manager of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Technology Center, and Director for National Crime Statistics Exchange (NCS-X) Technical Assistance and Outreach for the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
In particular, his involvement in the NCS-X project helped support the transition of the nation’s law enforcement agencies from summary Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).
According to Mr. Owen Greenspan, SEARCH Law and Policy Director (ret.), Mr. Roberts’ efforts beginning in 1989 helped demonstrate the value of NIBRS, identify data collection issues hampering adoption, and played a key role in NIBRS’ eventual implementation.
The Right Honourable Gordon Wasserman, a former SEARCH At-Large Member and current Member of the British House of Lords, has worked with Mr. Roberts for years. Baron Wasserman had this to say about his friend and colleague:
“(David Roberts has) made a really significant contribution to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system in the United States and elsewhere. I am delighted that, at long last, he’s been recognized publicly for doing so.”
Members and Staff congratulate Mr. Roberts on receiving this honor, and wish him well in his retirement.
The O.J. Hawkins Award for Innovative Leadership and Outstanding Contributions in Criminal Justice Information Systems, Policy and Statistics is SEARCH’s highest leadership honor. It formally acknowledges an individual’s service, dedication, and contributions that have improved the criminal justice community’s ability to develop and use criminal justice information.
In particular, award recipients have made outstanding contributions that have a broad-ranging impact, often affecting multiple states, justice disciplines, or branches of government.
It is the only nationally recognized, competitive award for contributions in the field of criminal justice information management, and is named for Orville J. (Bud) Hawkins, who was SEARCH’s first Chair and Executive Director, and a technological pioneer who successfully guided the organization through its early years beginning in 1969. O.J. Hawkins’ distinguished career in law enforcement spanned nearly 7 decades, and included nearly 60 years of service to the California Department of Justice.
SEARCH began presenting the Hawkins Award in 1985. Past recipients include former U.S. Senators and Representatives, an FBI Director, a U.S. Attorney General, private-sector experts, and justice agency and organization officials at the state, Federal, and national levels. Thirty-five years ago, in 1989, President Joseph R. Biden was the recipient of the Hawkins Award as a then-U.S. Senator.
The SEARCH Membership Group, which governs SEARCH, is comprised of one gubernatorial appointee from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories, as well as eight at-large appointees selected by SEARCH’s Chair. This national body of state-level professionals is widely representative of the various disciplines within the justice system, and many are responsible for operational decisions and policymaking concerning the management of criminal justice information, particularly criminal history information. The Membership Group fosters cooperation and communication among justice system professionals in identifying and implementing solutions to common problems.
