Sam Houston study identifies 262 peace‑officer tasks, 161 core tasks to guide BPOC revisions

A statewide job task analysis (JTA) presented Dec. 11 to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement recommends broad updates to the Basic Peace Officer Course that reflect modern policing duties. The study, conducted by Sam Houston State University in partnership with TCOLE, cataloged 262 distinct job tasks and identified 161 — about 61 percent — as core tasks that should be addressed in basic training.

The commission contracted the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas and the Sam Houston research team to conduct qualitative focus groups and a quantitative, stratified survey of agencies. John Ray of the Bill Blackwood Institute introduced the team; lead researchers described a two‑phase approach that combined 20 focus groups and nine in‑depth interviews with a stratified survey sampling municipal and sheriff’s offices across five size categories.

"We identified 262 job tasks," the research team reported, and then prioritized 161 tasks as core to patrol‑oriented basic peace‑officer work. Dr. Huda Masud, who led the qualitative analysis, told the commission that officer safety and mental‑health recognition were recurring topics: "mental health was something that kept coming up to the point of saturation," she said.

Researchers also highlighted communication (intrapersonal, interpersonal and public‑facing), navigation and equipment use, emergency medicine and critical‑thinking skills as enabling competencies. The quantitative survey, which used a strand‑stratified random sample and achieved roughly a 50 percent agency response rate, validated the qualitative themes and produced the core task list that the commission will use to evaluate BPOC content.

Commissioners asked about response rates and whether specialized agencies (airport, school district police) need a separate JTA. Staff and researchers said the 50 percent participation rate is typical for large surveys but recommended follow‑up work tailored to specialized units.

Why it matters: TCOLE and local agencies will use the JTA results to assess gaps in BPOC curriculum and consider targeted additions or redistribution of training hours for topics such as de‑escalation, mental‑health recognition and high‑risk traffic stops. The commission will review the researchers’ full report pages 42–53 and may direct further study for specialized police units.

Next steps: Researchers and staff said the full report will inform curriculum discussions at BPOC and that commissioners should expect follow‑up briefings as staff translates JTA recommendations into specific curriculum proposals.

Provenance: Topic introduced SEG 1561; presentation concluded SEG 1982.