For more than 36 years, Larry Mead immersed himself in combating the criminal underworld, leading investigations into street gangs and supervising a team of 18, including detectives.

Now, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has hired him as the new vice president of its Community Security Initiative (CSI).

Mead has extensive experience conducting investigations and is a four-year veteran of the army, where he reached the rank of staff sergeant and was commissioned as an officer.

Rabbi Noah Farkas, Federation president and CEO, said “CSI is needed now more than ever as we see antisemitism and threats against our Jewish community here and abroad rising in alarming numbers. We could not have found a more qualified and experienced person than Sergeant Mead.”

Farkas urged Southern California Jews to “feel confident and safer” now that a longtime member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had joined the ranks of the Jewish Federation. Mead also worked for the FBI on its Correctional Intelligence Task Force, Tactical Response Force and Emergency Operations Center.

Federation officials said Mead has developed “an in-depth knowledge of terrorism, organized crime, security threat groups, cartels, street gangs and human trafficking.”

He described the CSI program launched in 2012 as “a critical security unit dedicated to the safety and protection of the Jewish population in greater Los Angeles.” It works to protect Jewish schools, synagogues, summer camps and other related organizations in Los Angeles.