Paul Grattan, Jr.

Paul is an enthusiastic instructor and facilitator who focuses on delivering useable takeaways that prompt students to expand and improve their professional skills. As a sergeant and 19-year veteran of the New York City Police Department, he understands the needs of public safety professionals and genuinely enjoys promoting a strong culture of communication across your organization. His background and expertise help students achieve improved public messaging, efficient use of social media, and the ability to proactively and effectively communicate during a crisis.

Paul became a police officer in 2001 after completing his undergraduate work in criminology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. While in the Police Academy, he responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, participating in the recovery and security operations in the weeks that followed and garnering real-world crisis response and leadership perspective from the very onset of his policing career. With experience in patrol, the Street Narcotics Unit, and as a member of the Community Policing Unit, Paul brings with him years of policing expertise that has reinforced his instructional background with a “boots on the ground” viewpoint that resonates with those who attend his courses.

Paul often draws upon his diverse career to share lessons learned with course attendees, particularly from his time in leadership positions. Upon his promotion to sergeant in 2008, Paul was assigned to lead a plainclothes team responsible for combating felony crimes and sexually motivated offenses throughout the nation’s busiest metropolitan rail system, and in 2014 he was tapped to help define goals and recommend reforms that would lead to improvements in his agency’s human capital and morale – serving as team manager for the Police Commissioner’s Reengineering Initiative. In 2018 he received a discretionary promotion to Sergeant Special Assignment in recognition of his work.

Paul is one of the NYPD’s Digital Communications Officers and is currently assigned to the NYPD’s Transit Bureau, where he is part of a dynamic team that oversees the administration of the 2,600 sworn members who police New York City’s subways. In this current role he is principally responsible for strategic communications, policy review, and managing the bureau’s digital media platforms. He brings this expertise directly into the classroom and online training platforms to help attendees navigate today’s fast-paced social media environment and hone their public communication skillset.

Paul is also a Policing Fellow with the National Police Foundation, where he serves in an advisory capacity to help keep the NPF’s efforts aligned with the real-world needs of law enforcement’s frontline supervisors – a theme that carries through to the training environment that Paul creates for members of the public safety sector. His role with the NPF helps him keep pace with the latest science and research-based law enforcement approaches that training attendees have come to expect and deserve.

Throughout his education, Paul has aligned himself with instructor and classmate mentors who continue to meaningfully impact his teaching. Paul holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a Certificate in Criminal Justice Education from the University of Virginia, a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Phoenix, and is a graduate of the 254th session of the F.B.I. National Academy. Course attendees can expect to receive shared insight from those who have guided his educational path, including some of the most highly respected law enforcement leaders and public information professionals in the world. He is quick to remind students that he sees himself not as an expert, but a facilitator – conveying a wealth of knowledge from the public safety community in a useful and succinct way.

Outside of his work in local government and as an instructor with the Savage Training Group, Paul is managing director at Graypoint Strategies – a public service consulting group. He is also the Northeast representative for PursuitAlert, a public safety alerting technology.

Born and raised in Long Island, New York, Paul comes from a family with a long history of public service. He now lives in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley with his wife and three children, who inspire his enthusiasm for learning and an equal passion for teaching.

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