Choc Harris is in the news again

The TV stations are teasing us with little hints that something is going on between TCLEOSE and Constable Choc Harris. Here's the link to the channel 7 report, and here's channel 9, excerpt:

The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Education tells NewsWest9 that Harris is under investigation, but would not comment on the nature of the investigation.

The last time we gossiped about Constable Harris on these pages was back in 2008 when he was running for reelection to the Precinct #2 Constable position. See Precinct 2 constable race. And you might be curious enough to glance at the post titled State of Texas vs. Theodore L. Jurgensen in which Mr. Harris' next door neighbor ended up in court facing a felony charge resulting from an argument with Mr. Harris about Mr. Harris' barking dogs.

Around the time of that 2008 election I received an anonymous tip about the possibility of resume inflation at Constable Harris' page on the Midland County website. I captured a screen shot of the site at the time, but unfortunately, I didn't get the very top where it said "Charles Choc Harris, PhD." The PhD and the references to La Salle University and La sale University have been changed for the new site. Here's the old version:

Choc holds an associate Degree from Colorado Junior College in Security Management, Bachelor of Science Degree from Sam Houston State University in Criminology, Master of Science from La Salle University Summa Cum Laude in Criminal Justice Management and A Doctor of Philosophy from La sale University Summa Cum Laude in Criminal Justice Management. He holds a Master’s Texas Peace Officer License, Certification as Peace officer Instructor, and Firearms Instructor by the state of Texas.

[Emphasis mine.]

The gist of the anonymous tip was that Mr. Harris was claiming to have earned a PhD when in fact it came from a mail order diploma mill. I cannot prove it. But I did contact La Salle University in Philadelphia and Sam Houston State University. Sam Houston verified that he got his BS there. But the registrar at La Salle University replied very quickly and unequivocally that he did not earn a degree there and that they had no criminal justice department. They helpfully suggested that Mr. Harris may have gotten the diploma from La Salle Extension University. I won't disparage that university by calling it a diploma mill, but I'll just let you draw your own conclusion from the wikipedia entry at the link.

Anyway, here's the new version of that same paragraph from Mr. Harris' web page as of today:

Choc holds an associate Degree from Colorado Junior College in Security Management, Bachelor of Science Degree from Sam Houston State University in Criminology, Master of Science from La Salle University Summa Cum Laude in Criminal Justice Management (non-accredited) and A Doctor of Philosophy from La sale University Summa Cum Laude in Criminal Justice Management (non-accredited). He holds a Master’s Texas Peace Officer License, Certification as Peace officer Instructor, and Firearms Instructor by the state of Texas.

[Emphasis mine.] Note the addition of "non-accredited." Someone must have called him on it.

There's a standard page for each peace officer licensed through TCLEOSE which is very easy to obtain.  (Download Harris' TCLEOSE page PDF from 2008.)  And Mr. Harris' page contains no reference to "La Salle" or "La sale." So he didn't use those degrees in his application. The TCLEOSE rules back in 2008 appeared to be very strict about lying to TCLEOSE, but unfortunately for voters and taxpayers, there appeared to be no rules against lying to the public.

So, I concluded at the time, it was merely a politician inflating his resume, and he didn't pad his TCLEOSE application, so no rules were violated. And I filed all this research away and went to bed.

So what is happening now? I dunno. Maybe channel 7 and channel 9 are onto something new. I guess we'll just have to wait for it.

Comments

[Dom Evets]

Aren't you glad we didn't elect his wife District Clerk.

[Geo]

Dom, short coattails?

[C.R. Smith]

About 5 years ago, my wife and I saw Mr. Harris' diplomas. We noticed that the dates for his masters from LaSalle and his doctorate are the same! We found that a bit curious.

[Geo]

Yes, C.R., that is curious. That last semester must have been a doozy.

[David Lewis]

For the record, the comment "I won't disparage that university by calling it a diploma mill, but I'll just let you draw your own conclusion from the wikipedia entry at the link" is a bit, well...disparaging.

As a graduate of LaSalle Extension University, I can assure you that they were not a degree mill, and were fully accredited by the DETC...an accrediting agency recognized by the US Dept of Education.

I have also attended other, fully accredited universities, and LaSalle's level of educational instruction was just as solid.

That being said, this "gentleman" could not have earned his masters degree at LSEU, as they only offered degrees at the bachelor's level.

[Geo]

David Lewis, if you got a good education from there then that's great. And if it helped you in your career then that's even better.