Criminal justice professor Dr. Randy Garner was recently elected chair of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences: Police Section, the academy’s largest section. Garner, who became chair in March, will serve a two-year term in the position. He previously served as vice chair for two years and secretary for three.
As chair, Garner said he hopes to institute a number of changes for the academy, including developing a dedicated “police section” website, converting the current “police forum” to a more Web-friendly and readable format, increasing section membership, offering membership scholarships for newly-minted doctoral recipients who have published in the area of policing, and several other recommended changes.
Garner is a Professor of Behavioral Sciences and former Associate Dean in the College of Criminal Justice at SHSU. He was the founding Director of the Texas Regional Community Policing Institute (TRCPI) and served as the Executive Director of the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT) before his appointment as associate dean.
Garner has received numerous academic awards and honors including the Excellence in Educational Instruction award in 2006, the University of Houston’s 2005-2006 Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest honor the association and the university can bestow upon an alumnus, and the Social Psychologist in Texas award in 2004.
Before Garner became a teacher, he spent 30 years of his life in law enforcement. Starting in 1976, he worked throughout the different facets of criminal justice. He was chief of police for a Houston-area agency in the mid 1980’s, and was also active in many national, state, and local law enforcement divisions.
Though Garner served in criminal justice for so long, he said, “Interestingly enough, I earned my all of my degrees in psychology.” He mentioned that his psychology degrees truly helped him with his work on the force.
Garner has taught with or is a graduate of all of the major police command colleges in the country, including the FBI National Academy, the Graduate Management Institute, the Leadership and Command College (LEMIT), the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration, and the Southern Police Institute (University of Louisville).
He began teaching while still in police service teaching at UH Clearlake and community college. His experience in the force led him to taking a position at SHSU.
“Today I mostly concentrate on coordinating the Masters program in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management, where I additionally teach twoof theleadership course,” he said.”Having been in policing and servingat all levels of supervision and command, I have a unique perspective that I believe allows me to offer important contributions to this and other programs.”
Garner has written several books and professional publications with emphasis in the areas of social influence, persuasion, and leadership. His latest book, Criticism Management: How to More Effectively Give, Receive, and Seek Criticism in Our Lives has been adopted by command colleges, leadership courses, and communication programs across the country. Additionally, Garner is the editor-in-chief of Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice, an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, academic journal that examines the social and psychological aspects of human behavior as related to applied societal and criminal justice settings.
Garner remains active in a number of community service organizations and serves on various civic boards and committees. In his free time, he is an Instrument-rated Commercial pilot and is an FAA Certified Flight Instructor. Although Garner is a teacher, he still has his police license.
