Lt John Skipper  with the Redondo Beach Police Department. He has been been in law enforcement for 28 ½ years, first with LA Sheriff's Dept. and with RBPD since 1977.  During that time he has worked as a patrol officer, supervisor and Lieutenant and likewise for Investigations with over 14 years experience in Investigations, primarily narcotics and surveillance. He also served on SWAT for 17 years.

He  has been extensively involved in developing a regional model for Homeland Security since 9-11.  He was the chair of the South Bay Police Chiefs Terrorism Advisory Committee which developed a plan that has since been recognized by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), The U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Symposium (COPS), The California Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission and the National Council of Mayors as a model plan.  Their  plan was published as a portion of a book entitled Protecting Your Community From Terrorism: Strategies for Local Law Enforcement that was produced by PERF and COPS.

Lt. Skipper is an  origional member of the POST Terrorism Training Advisory Committee, which has identified and developed numerous terrorism related training courses for California Law Enforcement.

He has  served as an instructor for state certified terrorism courses such as Terrorism for Investigators and the role of the Terrorism Liaison Officer, a position he developed for the LA Sheriffs Emergency Operations Bureau.

He has lectured on the topic of Homeland Security from a local perspective to Police Chiefs throughout California, the U.S. Dept. of Justice COPS Conference in Washington D.C., and at the Academy of Criminal Justic Sciences Conference.

He has  worked with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and traveled to Northern Ireland and studied terrorism response with the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the British Army.

He is the  founder and president of the Foundation For Combatting Terrorism and Transnational Crime, a 501 (C) (3) charitable organization that donated explosive detecting canines, protective equipment and SCUBA equipment to the LA Sheriffs Bomb Squad, The FBI, Local Departments and the LA School Police.