Conflict Resolution, Cultural challenges and Vexatious Complainants with Tottie Karpela CTM

In this episode of The Defuse Podcast, Totti Karpela, Executive board member for the Association of European Threat Assessment Professionals (AETAP) shares his expertise on how to assess persons of concern who may pose a threat to public and prominent figures. He discusses his expertise around conflict management, vexatious complainant, the cultural challenges a threat management professional must be aware of, and the impact on workplace conflicts from the Covid pandemic.

 Mr Karpela, a graduate of the Finland’s Police University College, has a 20-year career in the National Police of Finland where he worked as a unit supervisor and subject matter expert. During his career, Inspector Karpela was part of a team that specialized in managing threats that were directed towards law enforcement and judicial officials. Mr. Karpela has undergone specialised training pertaining to the psychological assessment of offending behaviour and has experience in both the private and public sectors, particularly working with high-risk and high-harm offenders. He also spent nine years as a member of the hostage negotiator team in the National SWAT team. For the majority of his career Mr. Karpela also worked at the National Police University, teaching management of aggressive behaviour and conflict resolution skills.

 In his current role in the private sector Mr. Karpela has worked with presidential candidates, celebrities, media companies, banks and insurance companies, aviation industry, educational facilities as well as multinational corporations specializing in threat assessment and case management. He frequently provides behavioural and security consultation to multinational organizations.

 Mr. Karpela has worked as a subject matter expert since 1986, consulting and coaching government organizations and corporations on five continents in the prevention of violent crime, security issues, conflict resolution and risk mitigation. Mr. Karpela is the only person outside of the United States to hold a CTM-accreditation, a professional accreditation for security professionals related to the assessment and management of violent behaviour. Mr. Karpela is also accredited to provide consultation and training related to the European equivalent, CETAP. He holds numerous professional certifications related to violence risk assessment.

Mr. Karpela is a graduate of U.S. Secret Service Threat Management Program, Gavin De Becker threat management academy and he has done numerous other professional training programs with the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. Before joining the National police of Finland, Mr. Karpela served in the Military Police SRT-team. He is still in the Finnish reserve corps with the rank of Warrant officer.

 Other relevant NGO responsibilities: Subject matter expert for European Council and O.S.C.E. in crime prevention projects. Totti is also a member of the Merrick & Company’s Global Biosafety & Biosecurity Consulting Advisory Board since 2017. Executive board member for the Association of European Threat Assessment Professionals (AETAP). He also spent nine years as a senior research fellow at the Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals - Centre for Security Studies and a committee member for the Nordic Counter Terrorism Network. He is an internationally recognised threat assessment professional and is registered as such with the Association of European Threat Assessment Professionals.

 Mr. Karpela has also authored three books on police operations with organized crime (1995), personal security (1998) and case management guide for stalking cases (2001). He has also authored a chapter on the use of social psychology in counter terrorism operations (2017). In 2022 his book a manag