Dr. James D. Harris completed a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology while working full time for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He recently retired after 28 years of law enforcement experience. His assignments included the Hall of Justice Jail, Firestone Sheriff’s Station, Lynwood Sheriff’s Station, and periodic assignments to Lakewood Sheriff’s Station. He transferred to the Advanced Officer Training Bureau, where he wrote six movie scripts that explored officer-involved shooting incidents and provided training in the deployment of less-than-lethal weapons. He also provided training in “shoot-don’t-shoot” decision-making and combat shooting techniques. He has lectured to more than 35,000 law enforcement officer and fire department personnel on surviving the aftermath of critical incidents.
As a therapist, he responded with members of The Counseling Team to New York following the events of 9/11. He also responded to the Red Lakes Indian reservation near Bemidji Minnesota. He provided counseling to law enforcement personnel and the general population following a school shooting wherein a 14-year-old killed 3 adults and 6 children before committing suicide. He has provided counseling to hundreds of law enforcement officers in the aftermath of great human tragedies.