Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told a group of police boosters Tuesday that first responders are increasingly being called upon to be "first preventers" as cities contend with everything from ordinary crime to the threat of domestic terrorism.

Giuliani, who gained national prominence after the 9-11 attacks and ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008, spoke to several hundred people at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Foundation's annual fundraiser and award ceremony. The foundation raises money for police-related causes.

Giuliani talked for more than an hour about issues as diverse as crime reduction strategies he used in New York to the killing of Osama bin Laden by American soldiers.

But he was noncommittal about any plans for a presidential run in 2012, saying only that he hadn't made up his mind.

Before he spoke, the foundation gave a lifetime achievement award to Glen Mowrey, a retired deputy chief who spent 32 years with the department and helped start the police foundation. CMPD's violent criminal apprehension team was also honored for its effectiveness in catching dangerous suspects.

Giuliani touched on:

Compstat. He attributed significant crime reductions in New York City to the Compstat program, a crime-mapping strategy that allows police to identify trouble spots and assign officers where they are needed most. The approach, which began in New York in the mid-1990s, has spread across the nation to cities including Charlotte. But critics have said the program can be adversarial and relies too heavily on holding officers accountable for crime spikes - and encourages them to underreport crime.

Giuliani didn't mention that New York police recently launched an investigation into Compstat and the validity of the city's crime stats. But he noted some police initially found it difficult to adapt to the increased accountability.

"We had two fistfights," he said. "We had three people we had to fire for lying about police statistics. It was a way of figuring out who was doing a good job, and who was doing a great job."

Terrorism. The killing of bin Laden has put the nation at increased risk of a terror attack, Giuliani said. He said that although most American cities won't be hit, "The chances of it happening again are very big." An attack, he said, would likely be different from previous attacks.

How cities deal with emergencies. Giuliani said the biggest lesson he took from the Sept. 11 attacks was the need for "relentless preparation."

During the attacks, he said, he realized "this is much worse than anything we've ever seen before. We didn't have a plan. I knew we would have to make one up."