Top Correction Officials Briefed on Research

Top managers within adult and juvenile corrections throughout Texas met leading researchers in the criminal justice field during the latest training offered by the Correctional Management Institute of Texas.

Special Child Abuse and Neglect Class

Thu Sept 30, 2010
2:00 pm - 3:20pm
CJ Center, Lower Auditorium

Dr. Teske's class will feature the author of "To the Last Breath," the story of the murder of two-year old Renee Goode and her grandmother’s search for justice.

Among the presenters will be:

• Grandmother Sharon Couch
• Investigator Sue Dietrich
• Prosecutor Jeri Yenne

All students and interested parties are invited to attend.

Texas Schools Get Lessons on Impaired Driving

As teen death and injuries continue to rise from alcohol and drug related crashes, Sam Houston State University, Impaired Driving Initiatives Program, is addressing the statewide issue by delivering a national curriculum to teachers, counselors, nurses and coaches.

Bearkats Attend CJ Open House

The National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice participated in the Bearkat Family Weekend Open House.

Parents and students tried drunk driving simulation goggles, got fingerprinted and found out about Study Aboard programs in China, Italy and Germany at the College of Criminal Justice Open House during Bearkat Family Weekend.

Internship Meeting

Mon Sep 23, 2010
3:00 p.m.
Hazel B. Kerper Courtroom

Attention Criminal Justice Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors: If you are interested in completing an internship

• Spring/Summer 2011
• Federal Internship Summer/Fall 2011
• Spring/Summer 2011
• U. S. Marshals Co-Op Dec. 2011 – Aug. 2012

Applications due Oct. 1, 2010. You will need to attend a registration meeting on

Monday, September 20, 2010
at 10:00 a.m.
CJ Court Room
or
Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
CJ Court Room

Please contact the Internship Office at 294-1659 or come by Room 228-A (Hotel) for further information.

Internship Meeting

Thu Sep 23, 2010
10:00 am
Hazel B. Kerper Courtroom

Attention Criminal Justice Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors: If you are interested in completing an internship

• Spring/Summer 2011
• Federal Internship Summer/Fall 2011
• Spring/Summer 2011
• U. S. Marshals Co-Op Dec. 2011 – Aug. 2012

Applications due Oct. 1, 2010. You will need to attend a registration meeting on

Monday, September 20, 2010
at 10:00 a.m.
CJ Court Room
or
Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
CJ Court Room

Please contact the Internship Office at 294-1659 or come by Room 228-A (Hotel) for further information.

Study Aboard Programs Set for 2011

SHSU Criminal Justice Student Delegation at Puyuan Police Police Substation in China.

Criminal justice students will get a chance to combine study and sightseeing during trips to China, Germany/Austria and Italy in the Spring and Summer of 2011.

Beto Chair Lecture Series: Dr. John Hagan

Wed Sep 22, 2010
9:30 - 11:00 A.M.
Hazel B. Kerper Courtroom

The College of Criminal Justice will host Dr. John Hagan, John D. MacArthur Professor of Sociology and Law at Northwestern University, for the Beto Chair Lecture Series on Sept. 22. Hagan's topic will be "Explaining State-Led Genocide: Dehumanization, Death, and Displacement in Darfur."

Society of Forensic Science Meeting

Wed Sep 22, 2010
5:30 p.m.
Chemistry/Forensic Science Building 103

Our guest speaker at this meeting will be Forensic Firearms Examiner Bradley Bruns from the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Real Talk with CJ: Deputy Marshal Natalie Garza

Tue Sep 21, 2010
2:00 pm - 3:00pm
CJ Cafe (CJava)

Alumni Natalie Garza found a diverse and exciting career in the U.S. Marshals Service. As a deputy in the federal agency, Garza assists with apprehending federal fugitives, protecting the federal judiciary, shielding the Witness Security Program, transporting federal prisoners and seizing property acquired through illegal activities.

LEMIT Trains Police Chiefs in Texas

The training, which was held at the Overton Conference Center in Lubbock from Sept 13-17, is specifically designed to assist police administrators in developing their leadership skills and to help them recognize factors that impact the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies.

The five-day training focused on effective communications, employee relations, visioning, crisis services, legal updates, leadership skills, computer trends in crime and telephone exploitation.

Dr. George Franks, Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Stephen F. Austin State University, discussed the political aspects of the job, whether it is managing the internal organization or the external city council and society.

"At the root of political science is the effort to deliver justice," said Dr. Franks. "You don’t want to play politics, but you need to understand how to use it effectively. For many, the word politics has a negative context, but in reality, you have to be good at it to be effective."

LEMIT is part of the Criminal Justice Center at Sam Houston State University and is responsible for training about 1,000 police chiefs statewide every two years. The training is held three times a year at the LEMIT at Sam Houston State University as well as locations throughout the state.

"Texas is a definitely a leader in this area and other states recognize what we do," said Donna Garcia, program coordinator for chief programs at LEMIT.

The Texas Police Chiefs Leadership Program features experts throughout Texas and the United States. Among the speakers and their topics at the September training were:

• Franks on Political Survival
• Harker Heights Police Chief Michael R. Gentry and Carrollton Police Chief David N. James on the Practice of Servant-Leadership
• James McLaughlin, General Counsel/Executive Director of the Texas Police Chiefs Association, on legal issues
• Jeff Marshall of the Telecommunications Research Analysis Center at the Texas Department of Public Safety on telephone exploitation
• Lt. Richard Dickson, statewide supervisor for the Texas Department of Public Safety’s cyber crime and computer forensics program on computer trends in crime
• Ron Holifield, Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Government Resources, Inc, on strategic visioning
• Dr. Darlene Warrick McLaughlin, Assistant Professor at Texas A & M Department of Psychiatry. on the Crisis Service Redesign Initiative to address problems in the states mental health and substance abuse crisis services
• Michael Mirarchi of Management Law Consultants on the fundamentals of employee relations

LEMIT also offers training for new police chiefs as well as specialized training for chiefs and top administrators in the 30 largest police departments in the state.

Public Information Officers Get Disaster Training

Public Information Officers (l to r) John Argumaniz of the Irving Police Department, Sgt. Eric Bruss of the Santa Fe Police Department and Capt. Wes Priddy of Travis County Sheriff's Office hold a mock press conference at a recent LEMIT training session.

Public Information Officers from a wide spectrum of law enforcement and educational agencies were immersed in a world of routine press releases and large scale disasters during a three-day training at the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT).

Police Research Center Targets Intensive Patrols

The Police Research Center is providing ongoing research to develop cost-effective patrolling strategies in high crime areas. In Dallas, the study involves the Disruption Unit. In Houston, the Center is examining hot spot response termed Houston Enhanced Action Patrol (HEAP).

"Most law enforcement agencies have been basing resource allocation decisions on a variety of factors, including crime analysis data, intuition and, to some extent (although we hate to admit it), political pressure," said Kirk Munden, Executive Assistant Chief of the Houston Police Department. "Some of these factors are appropriate, and some are entirely inappropriate, but in the absence of empirical data, this has been our reality."

The research is an outgrowth of the Major Cities Chiefs Leadership Training Program, a specialized program for chiefs and top management in the state’s 30 largest cities, including Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, El Paso and 24 others. Similar to the training received by all Texas police chiefs biennially at the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas, this program focuses upon crime control strategies and is taught by national experts. The most recent topic is using social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, as an investigative and community information tool.

As part of its research with Dallas and Houston, the center has tapped into the cities’ geographic crime reporting databases.

In Dallas, the Police Research Center helped to identify the 12 worst, crime-ridden areas in the city and gauged the effect of concentrated patrols in those areas on violent and property crimes. The study found that extra patrols were more effective in reducing property crimes rather than violent crimes in hot spots, although there was an impact upon both.

"We want to find the most cost-effective way to move the extra patrol around the jurisdiction," said Dr. Larry Hoover, director of the Police Research Center. "We know proactive, saturation patrols work. However, we do not know the optimal amount of extra patrol necessary to impact crime, nor do we know the optimal amount of time extra patrols should remain at a hot spot."

The Police Research Center is initiating a second study in Dallas that will examine near repeat shootings, which usually are retaliatory shooting based on gang rivalry or drug distribution. The study will look at the characteristic of retaliatory incident so police can develop better intervention strategies to address the issue.

In Houston, the Police Research Center initially did a study to assess the impact of HPD’s Crime Reduction Unit, which deployed 60 officers in concentrated patrols in crime hot spots in the city to interdict gangs, guns and drugs.

"We found that the unit substantially reduced property crime," Hoover said, adding, "and although we did not find a pronounced effect upon violent crime given the limitations of the available data, evidence strongly suggests that targeted violent crime went down as well."

The study measured the rate at which crime was displaced to adjoining neighborhoods, or conversely may also have reduced crime in nearby areas based on the extra patrols. It also calculated how long crime reduction lasted after the extra patrols were reassigned to other areas, and the nature of crime in the area that was most affected.

To be more cost effective, the city designed a scaled back version of the plan, HEAP, with two extra patrol officers in a smaller target area, the equivalent of half the standard beat. The center is testing the results for several variations of time spent at a given hot spot.

"Dr. Hoover, Dr, Zhao, and the members of their research team have offered us the possibility of developing a set of practical decision-making tools to help us improve the service we provide, which is especially important during periods of shrinking resources," said Munden. “Although the results are somewhat surprising and counterintuitive, the SHSU team is advancing our knowledge and will ultimately help police managers make legitimate, objective and defensible manpower allocation decisions."

Students Can Earn Degree in Virtual Classroom

Dr. Randy Garner strives to create a virtual classroom for graduate students who pursue their degrees online.

Crime Scene Investigation and Analysis

Sep 13 - Oct 1, 2010
George J. Beto Criminal Justice Center

The Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science Facility at Sam Houston State University in association with the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas and the International Association for Identification is pleased to offer courses in

Crime Scene Investigation and Analysis Designed for Practitioners, Academics, and Students.

Professionals Train in Crime Scene Investigations

Law enforcement officers, forensic specialists and graduate students can get hands-on experience in crime scene investigation and analysis and earn certification from the International Association of Identification (IAI) through a series of special sessions offered this fall.

King Awarded National Institute of Justice Grant

Dr. William King, an associate professor at the College of Criminal Justice, received a $341,807 grant from the National Institute of Justice to study the use and effectiveness of a national database of forensic ballistics evidence.

Labor Day Holiday

Mon Sep 6, 2009

The university is closed in recognition of Labor Day.

Crime Victim Institute is Research Arm for Texas

The Crime Victims' Institute provides a voice for victims through its research on a wide variety of issues, including the Texas Crime Victim Compensation Fund, victim participation in plea bargains, victim's rights, stalking, victim impact statements, identity theft, restitution, intimate partner violence, hate crimes, and victimization of college students, immigrants and the elderly.

Leadership Command College Heads to Poland

In September, five graduates of the Leadership Command College at the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas will be representing the state during a visit to Poland. The delegates will have an opportunity to learn about the Polish criminal justice system, policing structures and techniques, corrections and international aspects of policing.

Focusing on Crime in Houston

Yung-lien (Edward) Lai spent 10 years as a correction officer in Taiwan before coming to the United States as a graduate student at the College of Criminal Justice. Under the mentorship of Dr. Jihong (Solomon) Zhao, he hopes to earn his Ph.D. and return to his native country to teach in the Central Policing University.

New Huntsville Police Chief is CJ Graduate

In May, Kevin Lunsford had two reasons to celebrate: he graduated from Sam Houston State University with a bachelor of science in criminal justice and became Chief of the Huntsville Police Department.

Lunsford, Class of 2010, is a home-grown Walker County resident and spent his entire career in the Huntsville Police Department, beginning as a patrol officer in 1982. He was appointed the new Police Chief in May 2010.

Welcome New Faculty

Two new assistant professors -- Drs. Matt R. Nobles and Brian B. Boutwell -- have joined the College of Criminal Justice this fall, bringing expertise in behavioral genetics, interpersonal violence, gun policy and communities and crime to students.

Dr. Nobles comes to the College of Criminal Justice after serving as an assistant professor at Washington State University in Pullman, where he was named Outstanding Criminal Justice Professor in 2009.

. . . read more on Dr. Nobles

Dr. Boutwell, who earned his Ph.D. in Criminology from Florida State University, has published in several criminal justice journals and presented papers at national conferences.

. . . read more on Dr. Boutwell