The Moline Police Department hosted the prestigious law enforcement executive management course from Northwestern University for the first time last year, recently graduating 21 area leaders.
The Northwestern School of Police Staff & Command is an intensive leadership and management education program that helps prepare experienced law enforcement professionals for success in senior command positions, according to a news release from the Moline Police Department.
The 10-week SPSC curriculum combines academic principles with practical applications, zeroing in on critical command-level content. The course planning and policies, media relations, organizational behavior, budgeting and resource allocation, human resources and contemporary policing, the release states.
“Many of our area police departments have seen a large turnover in executive-level leadership in the last few years. By bringing this course to the Quad Cities, we are able to help develop the next generation of law enforcement leaders,” said Moline Police Chief Darren Gault in the release. “The Moline Police Department is honored to have hosted our colleagues over the past five months for this educational opportunity.”
Rock Island Police Chief Rich Landi added: “Police officers are highly trained in handling crises but often unprepared for management tasks such as human resources and budgeting. This has been an exceptional opportunity to train our mid-level leaders in these areas and prepare them for future executive leadership positions,” he said in the release.
Two Moline officers graduated from the course: Lt. Derrick Cullison and Sgt. Jason Smith. They joined fellow officers from these Illinois law enforcement departments: Rock Island, Rock Island County, Milan, Silvis, Illinois State Police, Geneseo, Kewanee, Bloomington, Morton and Quincy; as well as officer from these Iowa police departments: Davenport, Dubuque, Clinton, Muscatine and the University of Iowa Police Department.
