Trent University Durham GTA has launched a new Senior Police Leadership micro-credential program to educate police officers in the ever-changing and complex accountability, legal and governance frameworks of police services and police services boards.

“Successful leaders who aspire to the highest ranks of today’s police services require a unique set of skills: strategic vision and planning, political prowess, team building and motivation, media expertise, budgeting, and an understanding of complex community needs,” says Dr. Scott Henderson, dean and head of Trent University Durham GTA. “These types of skills and training cannot be attained through field assignments alone. Today’s police leaders need professionally focused and practical education to augment their career experiences.”

Launching its first of six content modules in May 2022, the unique online program will deliver police-specific and practical education in areas of leadership, decision-making, governance and civilian oversight, operations, and human resources strategies. The program can be completed in less than 12 months, or at a pace set by the learner, who can take the six modules as required throughout their career.

The program will also help address a need identified by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police more than a decade ago to “create a deliberate and managed talent pipeline culminating in a formal accreditation process for police leaders with emphasis on validated performance standards.”

Open to police officers with a rank of sergeant or higher, civilian policing supervisors, members of police executive teams, supervisory staff members from police associations, and members or senior administrators of police services boards, the program will help build a pool of candidates with diverse skills and abilities for leadership roles.

“I believe this program is the missing link in the police-learning continuum around leadership and management of police services and police service boards,” says Murray Rodd, a retired police chief who was involved with the development of the program. “The policing environment is evolving.  Police leaders at all levels are now faced with new and unique community needs and public-safety challenges. Police leaders, both sworn and civilian, should seriously consider continuing their education through this certificate program, not just for themselves and their services, but also for the people they serve.”

Modules in the program will be taught by teams of academic subject-matter experts and retired senior police leaders. Each six-session online module is designed around a mix of lectures, case studies and seminar discussions. The format, which includes small class sizes, ensures that learners can seize every opportunity to learn from the experiences of academics, senior practitioners and fellow learners alike, using best practices for meaningful professional learning.

Applications are now being accepted for this program. The first module Foundations (starting in May 2022) will introduce learners to the range of topics covered across all modules. Foundations is not a prerequisite to other modules, so learners can join the program at the start of any module term.

Learn more and apply at trentu.ca/policeleaders.