Child Protection Program Expert Witness R Leslie Nichols MSSA CPP

R. Leslie Nichols, CPP, specializes in cases involving Sexual Abuse in schools, churches, camps, mentoring programs, sports organizations, and after-school programs.  He is the former National Vice President over child safety for Boys & Girls Clubs of America (National Headquarters) and oversaw the development of organizational policies and practices to protect 4 million youth at 4,000 sites in the U.S. and abroad. In 2016, Mr. Nichols began private practice as an expert witness and as direct consultant to schools and other youth-serving organizations.

Mr. Nichols has authored, co-authored, or contributed to numerous publications addressing various aspects of protecting children and has been interviewed, quoted and cited in various print and broadcast media.  He was a contributor to the Maryland Guidelines and Best Practices for the Design, Assessment and Modification of Physical Facilities and Spaces to Reduce Opportunities for Child Sexual Abuse (2020, SCANN) and the Recommened Guidelines and Best Practices: Background Screening in Youth-Serving Organizations, 3rd Ed. (2021, NCYS). He co-authored the textbook, Extreme Violence: Understanding & Protecting People from Active Assailants, Hate Crimes & Terrorist Attacks (2021, Cognella Academic).

Mr. Nichols is a member and past president of the National Coalition for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, a board-certified security professional (CPP) with ASIS International and holdds a Master of Science in Security Administration.

Mr. Nichols has been retained or served as a fact witness in over 30 cases, involving sexual abuse and other harm within organizations.

Examples include:

• A contract school bus driver molests a student on the bus
• A school music instructor grooms and molests his teen student
• A organization’s screening process misses obvious red flags
• A college ministry fails to provide oversight to prevent an accidental death
• A disabled child is molested by another child while being transported on a bus
• A sports organization fails to audit its child protection program
• A church volunteer systematically grooms and molests young boy
• Two teens rape a female, special needs student between classes
• A child is injured on a roof during an afterschool program
• An organization fails to provide effective sex abuse prevention resources to its affiliate
• A young boy is molested by other boys at a church retreat

View Les Nichols' Consulting Profile.