Thomas Shamshak

Program Director
Instructor: Foundations of Professional Investigation,
Investigative Interviewing

Thomas Shamshak, President of Shamshak Investigative Services, is a former law enforcement officer and police chief in Massachusetts. He is past President (2004-2005) of the Licensed Private Detectives Association of Massachusetts, and currently serves as the Second Vice President of the National Council of Investigation & Security Services (NCISS).

Given his many years of professional experience, Shamshak possesses a vast network of public and private investigative and security contacts throughout the nation and the world. He has provided investigative and consulting services to law enforcement agencies, municipalities, state criminal justice agencies, insurance companies, attorneys, and private investigators. Shamshak holds a Bachelor of Science in sociology from Suffolk University, a Master of Science from the Graduate School of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University, and has pursued doctoral studies at Boston College.

Pamela Hay

Instructor: Investigative Research

Pamela Hay is the President of Broad Range Investigations, which specializes in government and pre-employment background investigations, civil investigations, fraud, insurance and workers compensation investigations, personal injury, and surveillance. She is also a past President of the Licensed Private Detectives Association of Massachusetts and is a member of the Board of Directors.

Hay is a retired special agent with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and as such, conducted national and international narcotics investigations at the highest level. Her responsibilities included working in an undercover capacity, conducting surveillance, executing search warrants, identifying viable investigative leads, and developing and implementing operational plans. She carried out hundreds of interrogations and interviews, seized large scale assets, and made numerous arrests. Moreover, she supported non-enforcement programs aimed at reducing the availability of illicit controlled substances, and served as DEA New England’s public information officer, communicating DEA policy to public officials and media representatives.

The last few years of her tenure with the DEA were spent working a top ten FBI fugitive case: James “Whitey” Bulger.

John LeClair

Instructor: Investigative Surveillance

John “Jack” H. LeClair, a retired Pawtucket, Rhode Island police detective, received his Associate of Science degree in 1976 and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice in 1977 from Salve Regina College. In 1984 he received his Master of Education in Public Service and Judicial Systems from Boston University.

LeClair is also a 1988 graduate of the Rhode Island Crime Lab criminalistics course, where he was also an assistant instructor from 1988 to 1993. He taught crime scene photography, fingerprinting, and interview and interrogations techniques. LeClair also developed and taught the first crime scene videography course. In 1990 he attended the National Training Center for Polygraph Science, and is now a practicing expert polygraphist. He has been a member of the Licensed Private Detective Associations in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts since 1994, and has been director of training for the NESCTC Security Agency, LLC, since 2003.

LeClair is the past President of the Rhode Island Criminalist Association, and is a member of the National Polygraph Association, the Academy of Certified Polygraphists, and the Fraternal Order of Police Pawtucket Lodge 4. As an army criminal investigator, police detective, and private investigator, he has conducted hundreds of surveillance assignments.

Sherry Rajaniemi-Gregg

Instructor: The Law and the Private Investigator

Sherry Rajaniemi-Gregg earned her law degree from Boston University School of Law in 1999. She specializes in civil litigation at Kotin, Crabtree & Strong, LLP, particularly in the area of civil rights, including abuse of students in schools and police misconduct. Rajaniemi-Gregg also specializes in special education law, representing parents and their children in attempting to obtain appropriate services or placements.

Throughout the litigation process, Rajaniemi-Gregg works with private investigators, from service of process to initiate the court action to asset investigation in order to satisfy judgments. She has been an instructor for several years with Boston University’s Center for Professional Education, teaching the “Litigation” module of the Paralegal Studies Program.

Jessica Weiss

Instructor: Investigative Research,
Internet Research

Jessica Weiss graduated from Cornell University in 1993, and subsequently earned her law degree from Boston University School of Law in 1996. She is a licensed attorney in both New York and Massachusetts. In 2001, she received her master’s in Library and Information Science from Simmons College. Weiss currently works for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Information Technology Division as a project analyst. In this capacity, she helps manage the implementation of technology improvements for content management software used by web authors across state government. She is also engaged in promoting new web 2.0 initiatives. Additionally, she works with private clients as a web designer.

Previously, Weiss served as the legal information director at InstaTrac, a private Massachusetts legislative tracking and analysis service, where she developed and authored proprietary bill summaries, and provided comprehensive legal research services for clients. She has also worked as a law reference librarian in business and academic settings.