James Hawthorne

James Hawthorne is Cedar Hill ISD’s chief of police. Hawthorne previously served as the assistant police chief with the Arlington Police Department, retiring after 28 years of service. He was chairman of the Joint Information Center during Super Bowl XLV, coordinated communication strategies for public safety during two World Series events and the NBA All-Star game in Arlington.

Chief Hawthorne teaches a police intelligence course at Southern Methodist University and a criminal justice research class for the Upward Bound Program at the University of Texas at Arlington. He has lectured on a state, regional, and national level on media relations and crisis communications.

Hawthorne received his bachelor's and master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Arlington. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and the Senior Management Institute of Policing sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum in Boston, Massachusetts.