Texas Commission on Law Enforcement bows to Muslims, rejects credits for training on sharia and jihad

After receiving complaints from advocacy groups about officers getting education credit for taking a class taught by an anti-Islamic speaker, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement reversed an earlier statement and said it will not grant hours to those who attended the session.

The commission’s director sent a letter Wednesday to the Concho Valley Regional Law Enforcement Academy, stating it was rejecting credit hours for a day-long session held by ex-FBI agent John Guandolo in San Angelo earlier this month called “Understanding the Jihadi Threat to America.” Law enforcement officers in Texas must undergo 40 hours of continuing education training every two years.

“Upon review of the recording of the seminar, the Commission shares some of the concerns that we have received from members of the public that the material paints an entire religion with an overly broad brush,” wrote TCOLE Executive Director Kim Vickers.

The commission said last week that a staff member sent to observe the class saw “no concerning material that would cause reason to deny continuing education hours for law enforcement attendees.”

After receiving complaints from advocacy groups about officers getting education credit for taking a class taught by an anti-Islamic speaker, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement reversed an earlier statement and said it will not grant hours to those who attended the session.

The commission’s director sent a letter Wednesday to the Concho Valley Regional Law Enforcement Academy, stating it was rejecting credit hours for a day-long session held by ex-FBI agent John Guandolo in San Angelo earlier this month called “Understanding the Jihadi Threat to America.” Law enforcement officers in Texas must undergo 40 hours of continuing education training every two years.

“Upon review of the recording of the seminar, the Commission shares some of the concerns that we have received from members of the public that the material paints an entire religion with an overly broad brush,” wrote TCOLE Executive Director Kim Vickers.

The commission said last week that a staff member sent to observe the class saw “no concerning material that would cause reason to deny continuing education hours for law enforcement attendees.”

CAIR played a central role in formulating anti-Islamophobia curriculum the school district passed in April 2017. School officials also contemplated entering into a formal partnership with CAIR. But they changed their minds last July, opting to partner instead with the Anti-Defamation League and to create an Intercultural Relations Community Council (IRCC).

Those moves, school board lawyers argued in a recent brief, render FCDF's legal claim moot. CAIR, in an amicus – or friend of the court – brief, argued that the curriculum it helped develop did not teach Islamic texts as religious truths, and claimed it served the secular purpose of striving to deter bullying of Muslim students.