Dr. Darrell L. Ross

Darrell L. Ross, Ph. D., Professor & Department Head
Department of Sociology, Anthropology,  and Criminal Justice 

dross@valdosta.edu 

Dr. Ross is serving as the Department Head in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology,and  Criminal Justice  at Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA (since 8-10). From 2006 to 2010 he served as the Chair in the Department of Law Enforcement & Justice Administration at Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois. From 1992 to 2006 Dr. Ross taught criminal justice courses at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC and was the Director of the Forensic Sciences. He was the Chair of the department from 1999 to 2002. He was awarded the Scholar of the year by the ECU Department of Criminal Justice in 2006, the Distinguished Scholar/Professor Award by the ECU Chancellor in 2004, and in 1997 he was awarded the “Outstanding Teaching/Research Award,” by the NC Criminal Justice Educators Association. From 1985 to 1992 he worked for the Criminal Justice Institute at Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI. While at CJI he conducted research and provided training for police and correctional agencies, taught in the police academy, and also taught academic courses. Dr. Ross was a thirteen year veteran with the MI Department of Corrections, working at SPSM as an officer, a Unit Manager of a psychiatric cell block of 500 prisoners, and academy instructor.

Dr. Ross received his Ph. D. from Michigan State University in 1992. He has completed the Executive Management and Leadership Institute at the Kennedy School Government, Harvard University (1999). He has published over 80 articles, 4 books, and 4 book chapters. Lexis Nexus/Anderson Publishing published his book on Civil Liability in Criminal Justice, 6th edition, 2013. In 2006 Humana Press published he and Dr. Ted Chan’s book on Sudden Deaths In-Custody. Carolina Academic Press published his book on Civil Liability Issues in Corrections in 2005. Dr. Ross has performed research for criminal justice agencies and published works regarding: human factors and lethal force; human factors, virtual simulators, and lethal force; use of force in policing and corrections; sudden custodial deaths; excited delirium and positional asphyxia; liability trends in custody deaths, training issues, and use of force in police and corrections; use of conducted energy weapons; liability issues of administrators, legal issues, risk management strategies, use of force issues, criminal procedure issues, civil law issues, policy and procedure issues; and administrative and personnel issues.  He regularly writes articles for Police.One and Corrections.One.com. He is a member of ten professional educational and training associations.

Dr. Ross has made over 500 national and international conference/training presentations on a variety of use of force issues, custodial death issues, administrative, liability, and personnel issues. He has presented his research in Canada, Oxford University Round Table Seminar, Oxford, England and in Taiwan.

Dr. Ross has been retained as an expert witness for criminal justice personnel since 1988. He has testified in state and federal courts, both civil and criminal. He routinely testifies on issues of: police use of force; sudden deaths in-custody; officer involved shootings and human factors, custodial suicides; internal affairs use of force and death investigations, police and correctional policy and training issues; administrative issues, personnel issues; and correctional and jail management issues.

Dr. Ross has provided consulting and training services for police/correctional agencies, private security agencies, and the military, nationally and internationally. He has developed and provided training on 25 different subjects in criminal justice. He has been a consultant to the NIJ, GA Chiefs of Police, MI & IL State Police, MI, FL, IL, WY Law Enforcement Training Standards Commission, MI Sheriff’s Association, NC Highway Patrol, NC Justice Academy, NC Department of Corrections, NC Jail Administrators, National Institute of Corrections, American Corrections Association, American Jail Association, Alaska Department of Corrections, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, MI Department of Corrections and Jail Services Division, five States Attorney General’s Office, the KS Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Attorney General’s Office, Governmental Risk Managers of MI, all branches of the U.S. Military, the Hong Kong Correctional Services, the Canadian Research Centre, and the Australia Home Office for Police Affairs.

Dr. Ross is a staff instructor and advisory board member for the Pressure Point Control Tactics (PPCT)/ Warrior Science Inc. He has trained instructors from police and correctional agencies, federal agencies, private security, and all branches of the military in these subject control tactics since 1985 throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia.