Tom Ridge, President and CEO of Ridge Global, an international provider of security and risk management services, today announced that Thomas Betro, former Director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), and VP at NTT DATA, has joined as an advisor. Betro will work closely with Ridge Global’s Flag Bridge strategic maritime team to help guide the expansion of a global maritime criminal investigation service. “We are fortunate to have a seasoned maritime law enforcement professional like Tom Betro on our team,” said Gov. Ridge. “Our clients will benefit greatly from Director Betro’s investigative experience, and his presence only strengthens what is already a deep bench of distinguished maritime professionals.”
Ridge Global created the Flag Bridge service to provide high-level, strategic maritime consulting services worldwide. The team includes an elite cadre of former Admirals and other distinguished maritime professionals with unique operational skills. Clients are benefitting from decades of command experience, as well as the convenience of being able to access these specialty experts through a single source.
“We can mobilize our expert maritime investigators on short notice, anywhere in the world, to handle complex cases involving maritime fraud, theft, assault, murder, destruction of property, kidnapping, piracy and other actual or suspected crimes,” said Luke Ritter, Principal at Ridge Global and the lead for the Flag Bridge team. “Many of our team members have spent their entire careers conducting these types of investigations in ports and shipyards, aboard ships, and all over the world in both permissive and austere environments.”
The Flag Bridge team was recently hired by Republic of Marshall Islands, one the world’s largest and best managed ship registries, to provide support to maritime criminal investigations. “I’m not aware of another company in the world that can deliver this capability,” said Director Betro, who played a key role on the project. “The maritime industry will benefit greatly from this service, and I’m honored to be working with this elite team.”
Flag Bridge excels in building tailored teams of seasoned investigators, interviewers, crime scene specialists, and executive level leaders with decades of U.S. federal and international maritime law enforcement experience.
The Flag Bridge premier maritime domain investigative experts – all former credentialed NCIS Special Agents, trained at the US Federal Law Enforcement Training Center – will provide specialized investigative services to ship registries, maritime administrations, vessel owners and operators, P&I Clubs and other insurers, and admiralty law firms.
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