Presented by

Special Agent Matthew Wilkins

Special Agent Matthew Wilkins is a 20-year veteran of the FBI. After graduating from the FBI Academy in 2004, Agent Wilkins was assigned to the Tampa Field Office, where he investigated public corruption and white-collar crime matters.

In 2007, Agent Wilkins transferred to the Fort Worth Resident Agency in the Dallas Division, where he was assigned to an international corruption task force focused on cases originating out of Iraq and Afghanistan. While assigned to various squads in the Dallas Division over the next 17 years, Agent Wilkins has investigated a variety of criminal and national security matters including public corruption, white-collar and counterintelligence matters. Currently, Agent Wilkins serves as the FBI’s Airport Liaison Agent Coordinator for DFW International Airport and Dallas Love Field.

For the past 12 years Agent Wilkins has also served as a FBI Crisis Negotiator and member of the Dallas Crisis Negotiation Team. In this role Agent Wilkins has deployed on numerous occasions for high-risk warrant service missions, barricaded situations, suicidal persons and kidnapping/extortion cases.

Presented by

Lieutenant Scott Tillema (ret.)

Lieutenant Scott Tillema (ret.) is a retired SWAT hostage negotiator, with over 20 years of law enforcement experience at the Schaumburg, Illinois, Police Department. He worked as a negotiator with the NIPAS Emergency Services Team, one of the largest multi-jurisdictional municipal SWAT teams in the United States.

Educationally, Scott holds a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science and a master’s degree in psychology. Additionally, Scott has received negotiation training from the FBI and though the Harvard University Program on Negotiation and IMD Business School.

In 2016, Scott was invited to give a TED talk, which he titled “The Secrets of Hostage Negotiators” which has received over one million views.

Presented by

Patrick Doering (ret.)

Patrick Doering has been employed in law enforcement since 1996 and recently retired in 2024. He has been a Crisis/Hostage Negotiator since 2004 and was the St. Charles County Regional Crisis Negotiation Team Commander for three years. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the FBI National Crisis Negotiation Course, and the London Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard) National Negotiators course. Patrick is the former President and co-founder of the Missouri Association of Crisis Negotiators. He has presented case studies at several negotiation conferences across the country. He is currently the Crisis Negotiation Section Chair for the National Tactical Officers Association.

Patrick has also written two books on the history of negotiations, “Crisis Cops and Crisis Cops 2,” where he interviewed pioneers from the 1970s and ‘80s. He traces the evolution of “crisis negotiations” and shares their stories—colorful, comical, tragic, and heartbreaking—distilling the essential communications, tactical, and human lessons he and his colleagues have learned through the years.

Michael Randolph, LPC-MHSP, is the Director of Co-Response Services at Mental Health Cooperative. Prior to being employed by the Mental Health Cooperative, Michael received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Mississippi State University.  Over the past 15 years, Michael has worked as a Crisis Counselor and Crisis Supervisor.

His years of experience as a counselor and the ongoing working partnership he had built with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) made him the ideal person to become the MNPD's Crisis/Law Enforcement Liaison.

Although Michael has worked closely with MNPD’s Crisis Negotiation Team and SWAT for over ten years, his new role as the Crisis /Law Enforcement Liaison has expanded his range of responsibilities to include many other MNPD’s specialized units and their Patrol Critical Incident Teams. These partnerships led to the development of The Partners in Care Co-Response Program, where master’s level clinicians are embedded at the precinct level to answer mental health calls for service.

Michael has also developed other programs for other agencies within the Metro Nashville Government. He oversees the development of the REACH program, in which clinicians respond with paramedics with the Metropolitan Nashville Fire Department.

Personnel for the Mental Health Cooperative rides alone with paramedics on nonviolent emergency calls for service. Michael continues to provide innovative ideas and leadership to help individuals when they need it most.

Presented by

Sergeant Jeffrey Gibson

Sergeant Jeffrey Gibson is a 17-year Metro Nashville Police Department veteran who is currently assigned to the MNPD’s Office of Professional Accountability. Additionally, he serves as the Assistant Field Commander for the Crisis Negotiator Team, of which he has been a member since 2013. Gibson has had the opportunity within the CNT to become familiar with all roles; from intelligence officer, primary negotiator, and up to a current leadership position on the CNT. Gibson is also one of the bilingual, Spanish-speaking members of the CNT and strives to make the MNPD’s CNT the best it can be.