SHSU Gets $2.3 Million International Police-Training Grant
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Vincent Webb |
A $2.3 million five-year project to provide training and education
to police officers from other countries was announced Friday
by Vincent Webb, dean and director of Sam Houston State University's
Criminal Justice Center.
According
to Richard Ward, former dean and director and project director
of the program, SHSU criminal justice faculty will provide
academic support for the International Law Enforcement Academy
(ILEA) in Roswell, New Mexico, which is supported by the U.S.
State Department.
Under
an agreement with the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology,
which manages the project, SHSU will provide educational support
as part of an ongoing effort to familiarize law enforcement officials
from other countries with the American criminal justice system.
According
to Ward, groups of 40-50 police managers undertake an extensive
four-week course which includes subjects on leadership, community
policing, counter-terrorism, legal issues, administration and
management.
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Richard Ward |
"This
is the only project of this kind in the United States," said
Ward, "We were honored five years ago when the Center was invited
to help develop the program because of the College's international
reputation and the high quality of our faculty."
Since
then more than 1,900 police officers from more than 65 countries
have participated in the program.
One
of the new activities in the program will involve bringing a
number of groups to Huntsville for two-day workshops in critical
incident management.
Rita
Watkins, executive director of the Law Enforcement Management
Institute of Texas (LEMIT), said the groups will utilize the
state of the art facilities of the recently commissioned Incident
Command Simulation Training (InCoSiT) Program.
David
Webb, who directs the program, said that this training will provide
officers with a "real time" experience in handling a major event
utilizing the latest in computerized simulation methods.
"In
a rapidly expanding global society it is important that police
officials from different countries learn to work together to
combat international crime and terrorism," said Ward. "We're
pleased to continue our relationship with New Mexico Tech because
they are an acknowledged national leader in counterterrorism
training and bomb research."
—END—
SHSU Media Contact: Julia May
May 19, 2006
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