Editors’ Note

Richard “Bo” Dietl was a New York City Police Officer and Detective from June 1969 until he retired in 1985. He is one of the most highly decorated retired New York City Police Detectives. In 1986, Dietl was nominated by the Republican and Conservative parties of New York State for the 6th Congressional District. In 1989, President George Bush appointed him Co-Chairman of the National Crime Commission. In 1994, Governor George E. Pataki appointed Dietl Chairman of the New York State Security Guard Advisory Council. He served as Security Consultant to the National Republican Convention three times, and as Director of Security for the New York State Republican Convention. Dietl is a Fox News and Business contributor. He has been the CEO of various cybersecurity technology companies, and is currently Chairman of the Board for Document Capture Technologies, Inc. (DCT). Dietl is the co-author of the book One Tough Cop, which became a major motion picture and he executive-produced the film. He is also the author of Business Lunchatations, which became a New York Times best seller. He entered into the television realm as an Executive Producer of ABC’s The Runner. He also was Executive Producer of The Gray Area on CBS TV.

Company Brief

Founded in 1985, Beau Dietl & Associates (investigations.com) has grown to become one of the premier investigative and security firms in the nation, and is a full-service organization providing a wide variety of investigative and security services to corporate clients and individuals worldwide. In 2010, Bo formed Beau Dietl Consulting Services (BDCS). His company recruits temporary and permanent placements in the IT, finance, and business verticals for global leaders and Fortune 500 companies with clients such as JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, and Ernst & Young.

How did you see the opportunity to expand your career and take it in all these different directions?

At my age, I’m still learning. People become successful because they continue to drive for things. They don’t stay stagnant. People who succeed don’t ever give up.

I always had business come to me from many different directions because of the high-profile relationships that I have maintained. I always follow up and keep in touch with the contacts I’ve made over the years, which has proven invaluable. Our success in our investigations is also well-known.

I’m on the verge of releasing a piece of cybersecurity technology that is out of the box. It’s one of the most important areas in business today. I bought a company that has patents for keystroke encryption technology. If someone hacks into a system or smartphone, they can monitor when anyone is typing on that system or smartphone. What we’ve developed is an encryption technology where, once installed, if someone types anything on that system or smartphone, the hackers can’t see or record what that person is typing. Hackers also take a screenshot of the system or smartphone to copy information, and this prevents them from seeing the screenshot completely.

What is your main focus?

I’m all over the place. I’m in the midst of meeting with Marty Scorsese and Harvey Weinstein on a TV series about my private investigating business. I just finished acting in the first season of Vinyl, a new TV series on HBO coming out in February. I’m involved with cybersecurity technology. I’m running Beau Dietl & Associates. We’re partnering with a Chinese investigating company, one of the largest in China, and we are opening an office there.

How do you balance it all?

Like with anything, I can’t be a micromanager. I have to depend on people to handle things. I can’t be everywhere all the time. I try to put the best people I can in their respective positions so I don’t have so much stress. I like the action and energy; it drives me. Also, I’ve learned it’s very important to have an assistant that is very qualified and capable to run my personal and professional life. I think I’ve found a good one after 30 years.

What do you think about the U.S. prepardedness today?

Our President is not doing his job properly. He acts as though he is afraid to lead. We should not have walked out of the Middle East. We had everything under control. ISIS has been thriving upon the uncertainty of us leaving.

This leaves a broad network for them to recruit through on the Internet, drawing in recruits with the glory of being a “winner.” I hear that people don’t get treated so well on the inside of ISIS. Anyone that joins ISIS is treated as though they have no rights; there are stories of people being beaten once they have joined, and they cannot leave ISIS once they have joined. Also, the religion aspect of it is nonsense.

Is it frustrating that police perception in the media has become so negative?

Blue Lives Matter. My issue is that everyone jumps when a cop does something wrong. Where is the outrage over the 500 young kids that have been murdered in Chicago this past year by gang members because of gun violence? When one cop does something stupid, there are demonstrations against it, but when gang violence claims the lives of innocent people, we don’t demonstrate. People have to respect cops. Police officers put their lives on the line every day to protect the innocent. Are there some bad cops? Yes, but we can’t say that all cops are bad because of the actions of a few. We all must show respect to our police officers.

A cop arresting someone is not pretty. The police today are just trying to do their jobs. There is more diversity in the police departments today than there has ever been. The diversity issue is at the point where I think police departments have gotten sloppy with their hiring. They want to make it open for everybody to become a cop, but there are men and women who are small, can’t fight, and are not strong enough to do their jobs. There needs to be criteria – females entering the fire department, for instance, should have to meet those criteria physically. We can’t put people in the system just to fill quotas. We have many able-bodied men and women coming out of the military – war veterans – and I believe they should be the first picked for positions in fire and police departments.

Someone has to be in command, and have strength and control. Also, officers should be paid more.

What has led to such success in your careers?

One makes his own luck, and through hard work comes luck. Success comes with persistence, drive, and not being lazy. If I sit back and do nothing, the projects and businesses I’m working on will die with me. Being persistent is also key when one is investigating a case. Everybody wants to be a detective, but that isn’t learned in school; it’s learned from experience. Whenever I was out in the field, I tried to do the best I could. I hated bullies and I liked to make people feel safe. The terrorist threats that have become so common now anger me because people don’t want to go anywhere because they’re afraid.

The notoriety I got when I retired catapulted me into the spotlight and I never looked back.•