Commissioner J. B. "Joe" Pennington
J.B. “Joe” Pennington was appointed to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education and sworn into office by Governor Rick Perry on September 21, 2009.
Commissioner Pennington has been a Police Officer with the Houston Police Department for 37 years and holds the rank of Senior Police Officer with a TCLEOSE Master Peace Officer Certification.
Pennington has been assigned to the Patrol, Narcotics, and Vice Divisions and to the Office of the Chief of Police as the liaison officer to the Harris County District Attorney's Office. While he served in the Narcotics Division he was assigned to the Houston FBI Joint Drug Intelligence Group as a case agent and intelligence analyst and was a Texas Narcotics Control Program grant manager. Additional duties included assignments to the City of Houston Mayor's Transition Committee Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, and the Coordinator for Legislative Bill Review and Analysis for the police department.
Commissioner Pennington served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves as a Petty Officer in port security and served on active duty during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Pennington received a Bachelor Degree in Psychology and Political Science from the University of Houston and a Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security from the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. As a graduate student he served as a researcher for the congressional Project on National Security Reform and is a graduate of the Leadership North Houston Class of 2004.
Pennington's volunteer service includes Past Board Member of the Houston Police Officers Association, Past President and Board Member of the UofH College of Social Sciences Alumni Association and former board member of the UofH Alumni Organization. Additionally he has served as a member of the City of Jersey Village Board of Adjustments. Commissioner Pennington also previously served as a constituency president with the Association of Former Students of Texas A&M University and is a Harris County Precinct Chairman.
The Commissioner is a resident of Jersey Village, Texas along with his wife Cathy. He has two sons Ryan & Eric also graduates of Texas A&M. Ryan, a former Corps of Cadets member of Company E-1, is a Captain in the U.S. Air Force and served in Minot ND as a Nuclear Combat Crew Commander and is now assigned to the Air Force Space Command. Eric, a former A&M Football player, is a Mechanical Engineer in Alaska with an international oilfield services company with global assignments.