99 Signs of Danger:

Lou Savelli, Instructor

The 99 Signs of Danger is a dynamic interactive multimedia course of instruction for
law enforcement officers designed to significantly increase their observation skills and
their awareness of the signs of danger they face each day. This course will expose
several hundred very specific danger signs and illustrate how these signs manifest in
typical law enforcement situations, such as traffic stops, field contacts, inmate
interactions, statements made, arrest situations, and many others. Officers will be
immersed into dozens of real-life video scenes taken from actual life threatening
situations faced by law enforcement officers but with expert commentary by the
instructor who has extensive real-life experience in suspect interactions, apprehensions,
physical altercations, shooting situations and other dangerous interactions.
Even though the class is called 99 Signs of Danger, there will be over 200 danger signs
exposed and organized into 26 easy to understand categories. Students who attend this
class should be able to recognize the following 26 signs.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.

AVOIDANCE
TOO COOL/TOO CALM
NERVOUS
EXTREME NERVOUSNESS
FEAR
GUILT
DECEPTION
UNCOOPERATIVE/RESISTANT
STALLING
DISTANCING
DISASSOCIATION:
ANGER
AGGRESSION: (Active vs Passive)
FLIGHT
FIGHT
CLANDESTINE COMMUNICATION: (Verbal and Non-verbal)
ARMED SUSPECTS
AFFILIATION
UNDER THE INFLUENCE
EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED PERSONS
VEHICULAR
MOTORIST
PERIPHERAL/SITUATIONAL
CRIMINAL PROFILING
LAW VIOLATION
BOOBY TRAPS

Student officers will also be provided with an easy to remember officer safety system called
P.R.O.T.E.C.T. (Proxemics, Radius, Observe, Tactical Knowledge, Enact, Cover and
Concealment, Think) in which officers will be able to immediately deploy in their daily
assignments.

Learning Objectives
Students who attend this class will be able to
Explain the manifestations of dangers signs during traffic stops, in motorist behaviors,
during field contacts, during inmate contacts, inmate security, suspect apprehensions and
suspect behaviors
Explain danger signs in context
Explain danger signs within the totality of the circumstances
Explain the P.R.O.T.E.C.T. safety system
Explain the ten types of body language manifestations
Explain the danger signs associated with gangs, terrorists, extremists, criminals, drug
traffickers, persons under the influence, emotionally disturbed persons and dangerous
situations
Explain The Options of Effective Actions
Explain the ways to approach and culminate situations including disengage and return,

cover, concealment, defuse, deescalate, defend, solve.

Explain the Winning Mindset and Win/Win/Win

At the end of this class, students will be:

Able to articulate dangerous behaviors and situations
More observant to the signs of danger
Able to utilize more options of actions in situations
Able to make more effective and safe decisions
Able to culminate situations to Win/Win/Win

INSTRUCTOR:

Sgt Lou Savelli, NYPD-retired

Lou Savelli retired from NYPD after 21 years as a Sergeant and detective squad
supervisor of the Terrorist Interdiction Unit he created on September 11th, 2001 to
aggressively hunt down al Qaeda terrorists threatening New York City and those
responsible for the attacks of 9-11. He and his investigators immediately conducted
secretive surveillance, cultivated informants and developed dozens of terrorist
intelligence sources. He and his unit arrested hundreds of suspected terrorists or terrorist
support cells. Early into his investigations, he identified strong partnerships between
gangs in the US and several terrorist groups. He is a veteran of the Rescue and Recovery
Effort at the World Trade Center during and immediately after the attacks of 9-11-01.
Lou Savelli created NYPD's first citywide gang unit called CAGE (Citywide Anti Gang
Enforcement) which was awarded the Most Effective Gang Unit in the US by the
National Gang Crime Research Center. He and his unit conducted several Conspiracy and
RICO investigations on gangs like the Latin Kings, Bloods, Crips as well as working the
streets of New York City's most dangerous neighborhoods and arresting thousands of
gang members and seizing over one thousand firearms.
As a detective, Lou Savelli was a member of the NYPD Narcotics Division and NY DEA
Task Force during the time when the Colombian Cartels were at their strength and
exceedingly violent. During this assignment, Lou Savelli and his fellow team members
set the World Record for the Most Cash seized in a drug case in one location: $20 Million
in cash during the raid of a fortified warehouse protected by 11 Cartel members armed
with Machine Guns and handguns. The world record held until 2007 but is still the US
record. He also holds the second US Record when he seized 14 Million in cash in one
place during an investigation into the Cali Colombia Cartel. During this time, he also
worked investigations involving the Mexican Drug Cartels who were working closely
with the Colombian Cartels. His unit seized several tons of wholesale cocaine and heroin
and additional money seizures in excess of $100 Million. He worked cases on Pablo
Escobar and his Medellin Cartel as well as Escobars right hand enforcer, Jose Gonzalo
Rodriguez Gacha. He also investigated members of the Mexican Gulf Cartel and its
founder Juan Garcia-Abrego.
Lou Savelli has worked undercover to infiltrate street level drug dealers and high level
drug traffickers dealing in large quantities. Lou is one of NYPDs most decorated
officers in the history of the NYPD. He has worked alongside or supervised operations
with almost every federal agency in the US, including FBI, ATF, US Secret Service,
CIA, DEA, ATF, IRS, and ICE. Lou is currently training ICE Agents at the Federal law
Enforcement Training Center during the intensive two-week Advanced Gang
Investigation School for gang agents. Lou provides lectures and hands on exercises to
attending agents working gangs and drug cartels on topics such as Armed Suspects,
Tactical Interviewing, Officer Safety and Gang Identification and Interdiction. He is
currently providing several classes each year for the Midwest Counterdrug Training
Center (Iowa), Northeast Counterdrug Training Center (PA), Western Regional
Counterdrug Training Center (WA) and several HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Area) training centers across the US.

Lou Savelli is the cofounder and current Deputy Director of the East Coast Gang
Investigator's Association and one of the first members of the International Counter
Terrorism Officers Association. He is a member of the California Gang Investigator's
Association, International Latino Gang Investigators Association and several other gang
investigators associations covering the entire US and Canada. He is a member of the
International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, the American
Society of Industrial Security and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Lou was chosen by former NYPD police commissioner William Bratton as one of
NYPD's Top Ten Most Effective Leaders of All Ranks (of 20,000 supervisors within the
NYPD) and was twice awarded Supervisor of the Year. He was the first supervisor
featured in the acclaimed NYPD Leadership School Newsletter for his hands on style of
leadership.
Lou brings his New York City street cop style to his training classes. Since his
retirement, he has been voted at the top of every training academy he has worked as the
best, most dynamic and most motivating instructors. In 2009, he was awarded Instructor
of the Year for the Northeast Counterdrug Training Center. He is highly entertaining,
dynamic and proactive during his instruction and always focuses on officer safety and
putting bad guys behind bars.
Lou Savelli is the author of several law enforcement books and dozens of related articles.
He is a regular columnist for PoliceOne.com, POLICE magazine, PoliceLink.com,
Corrections.com, American Police Beat Magazine and others. He is a frequent
commentator for International, national and local newspapers and TV News.
Lou Savelli appeared in 2010 on the History Channels 2 Hour Special The Secrets of
Body Language, along with other international Body Language experts, where he
exposed behavioral danger signs and the characteristics of armed suspects. Lou Savelli
also appeared on the documentary, Rap Sheet: Hip Hop and the Cops where he
discussed investigations by the NYPD of well-known Rap artists.