Keiser University Graduate Spearheads First-Ever Police Department

Keiser University alumnus Steven Huron, PhD, and his Texas team are laying the groundwork for decades of protection and service as they develop the inaugural Snook Police Department.

As a San Antonio, Texas native, Huron said it was his father’s friend and respected San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) Detective George Sefcik who first introduced him to the field of law enforcement.

“I met him when my father, George Huron, would take us on hunting trips,” recalled Huron of the childhood outings in which Sefcik and his dad would share stories and cook campfire breakfasts on cold mornings at the hunting lease. “At a time when there were not many Hispanic police officers, George convinced me that I could join the SAPD,” said Huron, who eventually went on to study the Criminal Justice field, earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas San Antonio in 2011, his master’s degree from Wayland Baptist in 2021, and his Keiser University PhD in Criminal Justice in 2025.

While sharing that he’s now thankful to apply his extensive law enforcement experience as a practitioner and an academic leader toward starting a first-ever police department, Huron shared that his vision includes building relationships, processes, and systems that instill trust while ensuring justice is served. As part of this effort, he and his team will implement additional training for the vital areas of emotional intelligence (EI) and martial arts/advanced fighting techniques.

“Law enforcement officers undoubtedly have a need to have high EI as they encounter emotional situations on a regular basis,” said Huron, while adding that proper use of martial arts can add another important layer of defense to postpone the use of deadly force.

With the belief that education is key to conscientious law enforcement service, Huron also serves as an instructor at several colleges, including East Texas A&M University. “Most young students have little idea what the criminal justice field is all about. It’s not about handcuffs, emergency lights and sirens, and guns. It’s about helping people when they are often at the lowest point in their entire lives. Easing suffering, confronting the most violent among us, and protecting the innocent is what the law enforcement field is really about,” said Huron, who served the San Antonio Police Department from 1996 to 2019.

Grateful for the experiences and education that have led him to his current role, Huron often reflects on the relationship that charted his career path. “George convinced me that I had what it took to become a cop,” said Huron, while adding that he’s thankful for many years of friendship with Sefcik before serving as a pallbearer at his January 2025 funeral.

Huron also sends appreciation to his Keiser University mentor and professor, Dr. Alex Toth, along with fellow instructors Dr. Frederick Turner, Dr. Gregory Vecchi, and Dr. Barbara Cooke. “All of my Keiser University instructors had lessons to teach me, in their own way. Even those without law enforcement experience had a great amount of experience in academia and taught me how to be humble and strive to learn more and improve myself,” he said.

When asked what advice he’d impart to others, Huron stresses the importance of maintaining a clear perspective while engaging in continued learning for the greater good. “I would recommend others be humble and understand there is too much knowledge in the world to ever feel overconfident. I believe we should all strive to evolve as human beings until we die. Never stop studying, ever,” he said.

A licensed master peace officer with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) with more than 6,600 hours of training, Huron led the creation of the Courtesy Officer smartphone application, which allows businesses to hire off-duty police officers for security purposes.

A growing Burleson County, Texas municipality, Snook was settled in the late 1880s by Czech immigrants and was named after John Snook, who helped secure its post office in 1895. It had just 506 residents in the 2020 U.S. Census, and its population is estimated to have doubled to over 1,000 within the past five years.

Keiser University’s Doctor of Philosophy in Criminal Justice and Criminology offers a thorough overview of criminal justice and criminological theory. Coursework for the PhD in Criminal Justice and Criminology covers how to evaluate an agency’s ability to meet community safety needs, analyze deficiencies in criminology services, and assess contemporary criminal justice systems and their policies and practices. Students will also investigate what it takes to ethically and effectively lead criminal justice efforts within local communities and human and social service agencies, as well as in the private sector.

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