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GRAND JUNCTION, CO.  — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today announced the appointment of two career professionals to the agency’s senior law enforcement leadership team based out of the new Headquarters in Grand Junction, CO. Shannon Tokos has been named the Deputy Director of the BLM Office of Law Enforcement and Security (OLES) and Brian Richards as the BLM’s Law Enforcement Supervisory Criminal Investigator and the Bureau’s Policy and Programs Office Chief.

“We’re excited that Shannon Tokos and Brian Richards have agreed to help us oversee this important program at a critical time in the BLM’s history. Both have demonstrated their exceptional leadership and management skills in challenging and complex assignments over the past 20 years, experience that will make a tremendous difference as we continue to strive to be good neighbors throughout the communities in the West,” said BLM Deputy Director for Policy and Programs William Perry Pendley.

Tokos has more than 20 years of law enforcement experience at the federal level and has served as the Acting Deputy Director of Law Enforcement Operations since December of 2017. She will continue to provide key support to BLM senior leadership, as well as oversight of Headquarters law enforcement staff and field personnel. She has also overseen the implementation of investigations, law enforcement, security and protection, ranger and unauthorized use programs, ensuring that that these functions are integrated into the BLM’s multiple use activities on public lands.

Tokos will be stationed at the BLM’s new Robert F. Burford Headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado where she began her career with the BLM in 2000 as a Criminal Investigator in the Grand Junction Field Office. She later rose to be a Supervisory Criminal Investigator with the BLM’s Special Investigations Group, where she led some of the BLM’s most difficult and sensitive investigations. She has also served as a Criminal Investigator for the Social Security Administration. 

Tokos earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Natural Resource Recreation Administration in 1994 from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, and a Master of Public Administration Degree from the University of Wyoming in Laramie. She has also received extensive training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, GA, and other programs, and developed and instructed law enforcement training courses herself.

Brian Richards will serve as the BLM’s Law Enforcement Policy and Programs Office Chief.
He will provide program direction and leadership for law enforcement and security, policies, and procedures as well as initiate and review program planning and provide direction and instructions to BLM Headquarters and Field Officials.

Prior to Richards’ selection, he was the BLM’s Special Agent in Charge (SAC) for Region 3 for Nevada and Utah. As the Regional SAC, Richards oversaw 14 employees responsible for investigations of natural resources violations on over 60 million acres of BLM lands in the two states.  For nearly two decades, he has worked on various task forces as well as investigations related to a variety of laws including the Lacey Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, Endangered Species Act, Airborne Hunting Act, and Marine Mammal Act. 

Since joining the BLM in 2001, Richards has served as a ranger and special agent in New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada.  Before coming to the BLM, he was a game warden in Montana and served in the U.S. Army.  Richards earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Wildlife Biology in 1992 from Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

Both Tokos and Richards will report directly to the Law Enforcement Director.