Inspector Marx Howell is a 32 year veteran of the Texas Department of Public Safety, a graduate of the FBI National Academy, holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice, and served in the United States Marine Corp. He started his career as a state trooper in the Traffic Law Enforcement Division and promoted through the ranks to Captain in the Criminal Law Enforcement Division and then to Inspector.

He has served as Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the Major Crimes Assessment Committee sponsored by the Sheriff’s Association of Texas. This sixteen-member committee composed of city, county, and state police officers, a police psychologist, and a neurosurgeon meets quarterly to provide law enforcement agencies assistance on unsolved sexual assault and homicide cases. All members have extensive investigative experience and training in criminal personality profiling.

Marx is a graduate of Dr. Martin Reiser’s Law Enforcement Hypnosis Institute in Los Angeles, as well as many other hypnosis schools and holds an Investigative Hypnotist Certificate with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Education. In addition he participated in the development and implementation of the organized forensic hypnosis program for the Texas Department of Public Safety. He is past president of the Texas Association for Investigative Hypnosis (TAIH) & the Capital Area Police Officers Association, and has authored several hypnosis articles published in law enforcement and mental health journals in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

One of Inspector Howell’s last official assignments prior to retirement was the responsibility for planning, coordinating, and facilitating the Critical Incident Stress Debrief ings for over 100 state police personnel involved in the Branch Davidian aftermath in Waco, Texas and also to provide follow up stress management training. Marx was also in charge of the Department’s Employee Assistance Program, is trained in crisis intervention, hostage negotiation, and has taught interpersonal violence courses to law enforcement officers for the past fifteen years.

He conducts seminars and provides training to over 2,200 people annually in the law enforcement community, the corporate sector, and civic groups. He trained Texas Rangers in basic and advanced forensic hypnosis interviewing techniques and most recently provided them training in Criminal Personality Profiling.

In 1986 he proposed to members of the TAIH that they support legislation establishing mandatory training,.testing, and certification of police officers who use hypnotic interviewing techniques. Senate Bill 929 was passed by the 70th Session of the Texas Legislature making Texas the only state in the USA mandating such requirements.