Matthew O’Deane, PhD
Professor Matthew O’Deane started his law enforcement career in December of 1991. He worked for the National City Police Department as a Sergeant, Detective, Police Officer and Reserve Officer from 1991 to 2002. Prof. O’Deane worked for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation as a Commander, Supervising Investigator and Investigator from 2002 to 2019, and was the Commander assigned to oversee the Gang Prosecution Unit, the Narcotics Unit, Cold Case Homicide and Training Units. He was also the California Witness Relocation and Protection Program Coordinator for San Diego County for 3 years. Prof. O’Deane has taught at the San Diego County Regional Leadership Institute (SDCRLI) since creating it in May of 2015. He has a PhD in Public Policy and Administration, a Master’s in Public Administration and a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice.
In 2019, Prof. O’Deane joined the California Peace Officer Standards of Training (POST) as a Senior Law Enforcement Consultant for the Training, Delivery and Compliance Bureau representing Region 7. His region includes the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. and the counties of Inyo, Mono, Riverside and San Bernardino. As a POST regional consultant, Prof. O’Deane works directly with police agencies and training managers with course certification requests, advising on training requirements and conducting regular audits of background and training files.
Prof. O’Deane has written three books on the topic of gangs, including Gang Injunctions and Abatement: Using Civil Remedies to Curb Gang-Related Crime (December 2011 – CRC Press), Gangs: Theory, Practice and Research (January 2010 – LawTech Custom Publishing), and the Gang Investigators Handbook, A Law Enforcement Guide to Identifying and Combating Violent Street Gangs (June 2007 – Paladin Press). He has also written chapters in three additional books and dozens of articles in magazines including the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Police magazine, Law Officer Magazine, The Law Enforcement Executive Forum and the Journal of Criminal Justice Research. Prof. O’Deane has presented at Academic and Law Enforcement conferences across the nation since 2009 with the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS), was the recipient of the California Peace Officer Standards of Training (POST) Excellence in Training /Governor’s Award for Excellence in Peace Officer Training for the Year 2017 and the Faculty Service Award from the University of San Diego LEPSL Program in 2019.