SHSU Hosts Conference on Terrorism
More than 100 law enforcement officers and researchers, including
delegates from Singapore, Poland, England, Turkey and South Korea
attended a three day conference
on terrorism at the Criminal Justice Center of Sam Houston State University
from Feb. 17 to 19.
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Jay Kimbrough
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The conference brought together a renowned group of experts in the field to address
the topic, “Terrorism: The Next Page.” Deputy Attorney General Jay
Kimbrough, Texas’ coordinator for Homeland Security opened the symposium
to explain the planning and other arrangements for counter-terrorism in the State.
Other speakers addressed such topics as chemical and biological threats; the
Al Qaeda movement; domestic terrorist groups; mail threats; and local law enforcement
responses.
Jim Dozier, executive director of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, showcased
a new on-line training program designed to provide officers in the field with
information on counter-terrorism and other subjects through
the Commission’s website. According to the conference coordinator, Dan
Mabry, the conference was designed to brief police officials on both current
and future issues that police must be aware of in coping with the changing nature
of terrorist activities in the United States.
Larry Hoover, a faculty member at the College of Criminal Justice and director
of the Police Research Center, spoke on the challenges to local law enforcement. Courtney
Banks, a former executive with the Department of Defense and currently manager
of Homeland Security Initiatives for Lockheed Martin, explained how many of the
country’s new initiatives will impact local law
enforcement.
Representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement
Administration and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service were also on hand to explain
how their agencies are responding to terrorism. Stan Wiener, on the medical staff
at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a consultant on biological warfare
for federal agencies offered a chilling analysis of the dangers of chemical and
biological warfare.
David Webb, a former chief superintendent with the British Police Service and
currently assistant director of the Law Enforcement Management Institute discussed
the impact of terrorism on the civilian population in England during the period
in which the Provisional Irish Republican Army planted bombs throughout England,
and Captain James Albrecht of the New York City Police Department used a slide
presentation to describe the fateful day on Sept. 11 when the World Trade Center
was attacked.
According to Dean Richard Ward this program is one of many initiatives being
undertaken by the Criminal Justice Center to help prepare law enforcement officials
for what he described as “the new world order.” Terrorism is not
a new phenomenon, he said, “but it is now a fact of life in America, and
through education and training we can help to overcome the threat and the fear
that it generates.”
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SHSU Media Contact: Julia May
Feb. 22, 2003
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