Active Listening
In the Spirit of Rotary's Goal to Foster Peace and understanding across cultures we are excited to hear from Sergeant Bob Sherman, a Burleson Police Officer, who has had more than 25 years experience with Hostage Negotiation situations.
Sergeant Sherman was born in Stuttgart, Germany and grew up in the Hudson Valley in southeast New York State. He began his career as a police officer in 1981 when he joined the United States Air Force as a Law Enforcement Specialist. After serving two years at Hahn Air Base in Germany, he returned to the United States and was stationed at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas. He was named the Outstanding Law Enforcement Non-Commissioned Officer for the Strategic Air Command in 1989. After serving seven years at Carswell he was assign to a one year remote tour of duty at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea. He then moved to Homestead Air Force Base in Miami, Florida where he decided to seek a law enforcement career outside of the military. After 11 years of service, Bob was honorably discharged and returned to Fort Worth, Texas.
It was here that he attended the Tarrant County Junior College, Criminal Justice Training Center and graduated as the Valedictorian and Distinguished Recruit of Class 54B in December 1992. Shortly after graduation, he began work as a patrol officer for the City of Burleson. In 1994, he was honored as the Burleson Police Department Rookie of the Year. Bob was promoted to the rank of Corporal in October 1996 and then to Sergeant in January 1999.
From 1996 until 2014, Bob served on the Board of Directors for the Texas Association of Hostage Negotiators (TAHN) as the Vice President of Public Relations and then as an Advisor. In 2004 he was honored as the Member of the Year and in 2006 his Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) was honored as the Team of the year. In 2008 he was awarded an Honorary Life Membership in TAHN for his contributions in the field of hostage and crisis negotiations in Texas. In 2009, Bob led his team to a first place victory at the 19th Annual Texas State University Hostage Negotiation competition in San arcos, Texas. In January 2018, he was elected to the TAHN Board of Directors as the Vice President of Region 8. In March 2018, he was appointed to the TAHN Training Advisory Board.
In 2006, Bob received the Professionalism Award after attending the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration School of Police Supervision. In 2013 he was honored as the Burleson Police Department Supervisor of the Year. He earned that honor again in 2016.
After serving for over 22 years on patrol, Bob was selected to move to the Support Bureau and currently serves as the department’s administrative Sergeant. In this capacity he is the department training coordinator, red light camera coordinator, Drug Take-Back coordinator, and a recruiter. He is also the Team Leader for the Crisis Negotiation Team, supervisor for the School Resource Officers, Community Resource Officers and Victim Assistance program. Bob is a first aid and CPR instructor, Internal Affairs investigator and maintains the Police Department part of the City of Burleson web site. He is also an adjunct instructor at the Tarrant County College Police Academy in Fort Worth and an instructor at the North Texas Council of Governments Police Academy in Arlington.
Sergeant Sherman is a Mental Health Peace Officer, Advanced TCOLE Instructor and holds a Master Peace Officer's certificate. He is a life member of the Texas Association of Hostage Negotiators, National Rifle Association and the American Legion. He is also a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Chisholm Trail 100 Club.