Journalist Zully Roman Named 2009 FBI Los Angeles Recipient of the Director’s Community Leadership Award
Los Angeles Assistant Director to Present Certificate

Ms. Zully Roman has been named the 2009 Los Angeles recipient of the Director’s Community Leadership Award, an honor awarded annually by the FBI to publicly recognize community leaders, announced Steven M. Martinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles. Since 1990, the FBI has publicly recognized individuals and members of organizations who have made exceptional contributions in educating their communities about the harmful effects of violence and drugs, and by devising and implementing prevention strategies.

Ms. Roman has consistently volunteered her own time to collaborate with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, in efforts to reach the Latino community with crime prevention information and an improved mutual understanding between law enforcement and the community. In 2007, Ms. Roman founded the Expediente Rojo Project and later launched the website www.expedienterojo.org. At the time, Ms. Roman assumed all expenses related to this project, and recruited professional volunteers to provide crime prevention education to the Latino community. Expediente Rojo became a non-profit organization in 2008.

The website, which is written in the Spanish language, has become a trusted source of crime-watch information created for the Latino community. Expediente Rojo is not limited to information from law enforcement in the United States, but it also includes links to international law enforcement agencies. In addition to crime prevention tips, the website provides educational information on civil rights violations, to include hate crimes, Internet safety, fraud prevention, cold cases, and terrorism threats.

Through Expediente Rojo, Ms. Roman has supported law enforcement efforts by publicizing fugitive cases, reporting on missing children and disseminating crime prevention advice. In the first half of 2009, expedienterojo.org reported more than 1,850,000 visits.

Ms. Roman utilizes Expediente Rojo as a bridge between the Latino Community and law enforcement agencies by providing its visitors a forum in which they can report crimes to the proper authorities.

Ms. Roman also provides information to crime victims, as well as their families, with valuable information and resources available to them. In addition, Expediente Rojo features interviews with Latino role models in the law enforcement community and other professions to encourage children to stay in school. Several FBI agents have been profiled on her website.

Ms. Roman educates the Latino community by minimizing their potential to become victims of crime to include various frauds and other scams targeting ethic communities. Through her website, Ms. Roman provides tailored guidance to women who are victims of violence and participates in events organized by law enforcement organizations, including the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI.

Ms. Roman is graduate of the Citizens’ Academy of both the FBI and the ATF; a member of the FBI Citizens' Academy Alumni Association and a Community Relations Specialist Reserve Officer with the LAPD. Ms. Roman is an Emmy Award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience in news gathering and reporting.

Ms. Zully Roman and 59 other recipients of the Director’s Community Leadership Award will attend an official ceremony with Director Robert Mueller at the FBI’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C. on March 19, 2010.