Retired NYPD Travel Safety — About Rick Hayes
I’m a retired NYPD officer with the Anti-Terrorism Unit, Transit Special Operations Division — now a travel safety expert — and I spent years doing something most travel bloggers have never done: protecting tourists for a living.
During my career I served across multiple specialized units within the NYPD Transit Special Operations Division:
My NYPD Background
- Anti-Terrorism Unit — protecting the NYC subway system from criminal and terrorism-related threats, including CCTV monitoring, plainclothes surveillance operations, and proactive transit security enforcement
- Transit Impact Task Force — high-visibility crime suppression and deterrence across the NYC subway system, focused on reducing criminal activity in mass transit environments
- Transit Manhattan Task Force — Midtown and Lower Manhattan tourist corridors including Times Square and Penn Station, concentrating on pickpocket suppression, tourist-targeted theft prevention, and rapid-response policing in the highest-volume public spaces in America
Across all three units I worked both uniformed and plainclothes in the exact crowd environments — transit hubs, tourist corridors, high-density public spaces — that your next vacation destination is going to look a lot like.
Specialized Training & Certifications
- Behavioral Observation and Suspicious Activity Recognition
- Hostile Surveillance Detection
- Counterterrorism Personal Radiation Detection
- Advanced Explosive Trace Detection
- Certified Basic Plainclothes Officer
- COBRA / Cohort Coordinated Response Training
- CIMS and NIMS Federal Emergency Management
- Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Training Program (CISRTP)
These certifications are issued through federal programs — learn more about NIMS at fema.gov
From the NYPD to Central Florida
After retiring from the NYPD, I moved to Central Florida — home to Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, SeaWorld, Port Canaveral, and Port Tampa Bay — and opened a cruise-focused travel agency.
That combination is what makes this blog different from every other travel safety resource on the internet. No other travel writer holds this combination. Retired NYPD experience, federal threat-recognition certifications, and real cruise industry knowledge — all three, in one place.
I write the guides I wish every tourist had before they left home. No generic tips. No recycled advice. Real operational knowledge, translated into practical guidance you can actually use on your next vacation.
How This Retired NYPD Travel Safety Expertise Helps You
Whether you’re boarding a cruise ship, walking through a Caribbean port, or navigating a theme park with your family — I’ve worked those environments. I know what the threats look like. And now I’m going to show you.
Read the safety guides: 10 Cruise Port Safety Tips From a Retired NYPD Officer
Work with Rick directly: Cruise Planning Consultations