May 7, 2014 (Jackson) - Belhaven University Memphis will honor its graduating students on May 16, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. in the main sanctuary of Second Presbyterian Church, 4055 Poplar Avenue.
Dr. K. B. Turner, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, will be the commencement speaker. Dr. Turner received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He holds a current law enforcement certification and is a certified law enforcement instructor. His 20 years of experience includes several years with the Omaha Police Department prior to joining the criminal justice faculty at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Dr. Turner has also served in other law enforcement agencies assisting with their training programs.
He teaches on areas of theory, race and crime and police issues. His research interests include crime and punishment, courts, police administration, race and crime. Dr. Turner is the co-author with Dr. Samuel Walker of a research project that analyzed hiring and promotion practices of the 50 largest American police departments. His work has appeared in Criminal Law Bulletin, Challenge, Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Executive Forum.
Dr. Turner is also an assistant trainer with the Memphis Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), a police based program that has become nationally known as the “Memphis Model” of pre-arrest jail diversion for those in a mental illness crisis. He is also a member of The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS), The American Society of Criminology (ASC), and The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE).