In March 2025, The Freethought Society (FS) Board of Directors formally adopted a new committee entitled Freethinkers Supporting Safe Streets (FS3). The committee chair is David Condo. His photo and bio appear at the end of this article. The following description of FS3 is written by Condo.
Freethinkers Supporting Safe Streets (FS3) is an initiative that builds bridges between the freethought community and law enforcement. For many years, various criminal justice agencies at the federal, state, and local levels have facilitated outreach to businesses, academia, religious communities, racial and ethnic groups, and to the LGBTQ+ population. Rarely has outreach been done specifically to Americans who are not religious — even though this demographic makes up a large and growing segment of our country. A significant number of citizens are not open about their views and live in fear of discrimination and harassment, as well as acts of violence.
Many in the freethought community are not fully aware of all available criminal justice options open to them. They may also not realize the benefits of reporting crimes or other incidents of hate. Some individuals are apprehensive to contact the police even when they are victimized.
Although it is not often recognized, many freethinkers in fact serve in law enforcement. In addition to being a tremendous resource, they are yet another example of how people can be moral, patriotic, compassionate, and brave without religion. We want to support them because of their dedication to supporting us. The FS3 initiative has three priorities:
- Support the existence and service of freethinkers who work in law enforcement.
- Promote awareness within the freethought community about how to report criminal targeting,
harassment, and hate incidents. - Foster increased communication and understanding be-tween the freethought community and criminal justice organizations.
We can achieve the above through our website and social media presence; through our in-person and virtual presentations to various groups; and through our mailing list. We can also help freethought victims report hate crimes and incidents of hate activity. FS3 can confidentially speak to freethinkers in law enforcement about potential matters of religion and government separation, ways to connect with other criminal justice freethinkers, and secular resources available to them through the freethought community.
Readers of this article may wonder how they can help with FS3 goals, vision and mission. My email address is: DavidCondo@FtSociety.org
I would like to hear from you if you:
- are a freethinker currently working in law enforcement, or if you want to support those that are
- want more information about hate crimes
- want to discover how to build bridges with law enforcement agencies
- want to sign up for the FS3 or FS mailing list (see emails below)
- have any questions about the FS3 committee’s initiative.
FS3 will follow up with more information about pending events, success stories, and specific topics of interest to both law enforcement and the freethought community. Below are some anticipated questions and answers:
I would like to talk to somebody about possibly reporting a hate crime. Whom do I contact?
FS3 would be happy to speak with you about hate crimes in general; talk about your specific situation; discuss the different options you may have; and give you additional guidance for whatever choice you make to report or not report. The ultimate reporting decision will always be yours. Your story and your voice matter. The FS3 committee chair is the first point of contact at DavidCondo@ftsociety.org. The second point of contact is the president of FS Margaret Downey. Her email is: margaret@FtSociety.org. What are the obligations of freethinkers in law enforcement who sign up for the FS3 and/or the FS mailing list?
No obligations, and no requirements. We just want you to know that you are appreciated and not alone. By signing up, you are stating that freethinkers are dedicated members of the criminal justice teams that keep the citizens of this country safe. Although it’s a simple fact, it is an important statement that the public, including the freethought community, needs to know and be reminded of. Freethinkers want law and order in this world because it’s our world too! If you would like to help the initiative in other ways, feel free to contact FS3 anytime.
Again, the email for FS3 is: DavidCondo@FtSociety.org
Do I need to publicly identify myself as a freethinker to join the FS3 initiative?
No. FS3 and FS value your privacy, and if a personal story is shared FS3 will only make it part of the FS3 files with permission. While sharing hate crime stories is an important step to building a better understanding of what the freethinking community is experiencing, privacy will prevail and no personal information will ever be made available without consent from the victim. All reports will be assigned a number to guarantee privacy.
Do I need to work in law enforcement to sign up for the FS3 mailing list?
No, not at all. The involvement of informed citizens is crucial to any partnership, and all of the extra eyes, ears, and minds working to increase awareness of this initiative can be extremely helpful.
What is the difference between the FS3 mailing list and the Freethought Society’s free subscription to The Freethought Society News ezine?
We encourage you to sign up for both the FS3 mailing list and the FS ezine. Specific FS3 list updates will contain mostly informal info focused on our initiative’s objectives, while The Freethought Society News ezine and hard copy newsletter has a wider variety of information about freethought in general.
Can I donate money to the FS3 initiative?
Yes, and donations would be very much appreciated. All financial contributions can be made through the FS website, and you will be able to specify that your donation is for the FS3 initiative. Earmarked donations will go directly to our efforts. Donations are tax-deductible. The donation link is: https://www.ftsociety.org/donate/
David Condo is a retired FBI Agent who is passionate about building bridges between the free-thought and law enforcement communities. Condo has a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
When Condo joining the FBI in 1999, he worked white collar crime and online child exploitation investigations in Baltimore, Maryland for seven years. He was a founding member of the FBI’s Innocent Images International Task Force.
Condo then worked for four years at FBI Headquarters in Washington D.C. as a program manager in the Directorate of Intelligence and the Office of Professional Responsibility. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 2010 to supervise a white-collar crime squad, and in 2015 he moved to Alaska to manage the criminal investigations branch and administrative matters of the Anchorage Division before returning to his hometown of Cincinnati in 2016.
As the FBI’s Private Sector Coordinator for central and southern Ohio, he was the coordinator for three local chapters of the FBI’s InfraGard program and served as an initial point of contact for business and academia professionals. In addition, he served on the FBI’s Evidence Response Team and was the applicant coordinator overseeing all local candidates in the Special Agent hiring process.
His first experience with the secular community was attending the Godless Americans March on Washington in 2002. Before he retired from the FBI in 2024, he started an internal group for employees named Freethinking Feds. In January 2025, the Freethinking Feds and other internal groups were shut down as a result of presidential executive orders. He and his wife, a former Intelligence Analyst with the FBI, currently live in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania region.
David Condo