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Leadership Education

In-Person Learning  |  Virtual Learning  |  Needs-Based Scholarships  |  Officer Safety Notice

 

In-Person Leadership Education

The Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police & Foundation offers a four-tiered approach to leadership education to cultivate and develop leaders at different stages throughout their law enforcement career:

  • First Line Supervisors Training

    This is a four-day training program that has been designed for those newly appointed (or soon to be promoted) as supervisors and is most applicable to individuals who have had little or no prior supervisory training. This program is designed to assist officers in their transition to their new role as supervisor.

  • Institute for Leadership in Changing Times (ILCT)

    The Institute for Leadership in Changing Times (ILCT) is an intensive, eight‑day leadership development program designed for current or soon‑to‑be mid‑level managers. It focuses on intermediate‑level leadership skills and helps participants strengthen their ability to lead effectively in evolving organizational environments.

  • Professional Executive Leadership School (PELS)

    The Professional Executive Leadership School (PELS) program is an intensive three-week leadership education program conducted in cooperation with the University of Richmond. The curriculum is liberal-arts/humanities based and focused on the study of leadership at an advanced level. This program is designed for individuals who currently serve in command/executive level positions within their agencies. The objective of this program is to acquaint participants with best practices in leadership, challenge them to reflect upon their own leadership competency, and examine ways of achieving both personal and professional growth.

    • PELS Graduate Leadership Award — In each session of PELS, a member of each class is chosen by their peers to receive this award. The purpose of this award is to recognize one member of each PELS class who has demonstrated outstanding leadership abilities throughout the PELS program.

  • New Chiefs / Deputy Chiefs Training

    This is a four-day training program that has been designed for individuals who have been recently appointed or elected to the position of chief executive of their agency, assistant or deputy chief executive, or for those individuals who act in those roles in their absence. This program is designed to assist newly promoted/appointed executive level personnel in their transition to their new role.

 

Virtual Leadership Education

The VACP recognizes that many Virginia law enforcement executives and officers find it difficult to attend in-person training and education opportunities due to training and travel budget limitations, staffing shortages, and numerous professional and personal commitments.  As such, we have partnered with two providers of high quality online leadership education courses — the National Command & Staff College (NCSC) and the Professional Development Academy (PDA).

Originally designed by General Howard Prince and the staff of the Behavioral Sciences and Leadership Department at the United States Military Academy at West Point, this course has been redesigned by General Howard Prince, Dr. Mitch Javidi, Dr. Dave Mather, and the faculty at the National Command and Staff College (NCSC) to be offered in a self-paced online course. The 60-hour course challenges participants to bring their artful experience leading others at any level of the organization and combine it with behavioral science theories which will improve the participant’s ability to enhance the motivation, satisfaction, and performance of their people.  This course is not intended to be theoretical; it is designed to be deliberately applied in the real world with real people using contemporary challenges in need of creative solutions. The foundation of the course is about understanding human behavior, including your own, and learning to lead people more effectively in a dynamic environment.

The VACP High Performance Leadership Academy (HPLA) is a virtual 10-week, 3-course mentorship based program with content provided by industry leading executives. This program provides best practices in leadership, organizational development and change management, negotiation and collaboration, effective business communication, and delivering value within high performance management.

The VACP HPLA training, led by our partners at the Professional Development Academy,  is intentionally designed to make existing leaders better and emerging leaders ready to address the pressing issues of our day. HPLA is designed for leaders at any level — particularly those who manage teams.

One of the many leaders providing guidance in the program is the late General Colin Powell who had this to say of the HPLA program: “This is a transformational leadership program that has proven to be the most scalable, cost effective and efficient way to make your leaders better.”

The four courses that make up the ICLD can be taken in conjunction or individually, allowing public safety leaders at every level to take advantage of the material by either starting their leadership development journey or building on previously-learned material. The course material was developed by the National Command & Staff College.

This course is based on the principle that all law enforcement professionals must lead within their scope of responsibility and must be given the tools to understand what leadership looks like, feels like and sounds like. It is designed to fill the void of leadership training which traditionally exists between entry-level and mid-level supervision.

This course stresses the importance of understanding the true definition of policing and how participant’s actions and their organizational mission must align with that definition. 

This course is designed to build on the curriculum of Credible Leadership Program: Foundations and Principles and raise participants’ level of organizational thought and team-building by focusing on theories and practices of organizational leaders from both private and public sectors who have made monumental changes within their organizations.

This phase builds on Phases I & II by addressing the balance of humanistic and tactical approaches to law enforcement leadership. This third course focuses on understanding the human factors of police leadership and how if used effectively, it can change the internal culture and external perception of an organization. It is steeped in emotional intelligence and self-realism, containing modules featuring Advanced Emotional Intelligence, Human Factors in Policing, Adaptive Leadership, Authentic Leadership, Servant Leadership, Credible Leadership, Toxic Leadership, Community Leadership, and Tactical Leadership. Each of these modules is designed to make students take an introspective look at how they apply leadership practices both internally and externally.

In this fourth course, learners have the opportunity to understand and perform the complex knowledge, skills, and tasks that exemplary leaders perform. The breakthrough of this course is that officers are now able to take self-responsibility for mastering the 60 Skills that enable them to perform the 40 Tasks and Responsibilities that research has revealed are critical for leadership success in justice and public safety. Never before has professional leadership been so well-defined and distilled so that it is easily and quickly learned. The course is a research-based, online, performance enhancement learning process that equips leaders to express more empathic caring, be more ethically conscious, and more capable of developing themselves, other leaders, teams, and organizations.

 

Needs-Based Program Discounts & Scholarships

If your agency does not have the fiscal resources to attend our in-person programs, the VACP offers scholarships, needs-based discounts, and fee waivers to eligible law-enforcement agencies. Click here for more information

 

Officer Safety Notice

Officer safety has been a priority at VACP Training and Education programs for years. Some of the precautions that are taken include:

  • Hotel management and staff are vetted to ensure that locations chosen are LE friendly.
  • Our organization name / training name is not listed on hotel “Welcome Boards”.
  • The VACP hosts hospitality in the evenings so attendees have the opportunity to network in a safe environment.
  • All training rooms have locks on the doors to prevent uninvited guests from wandering into the training room.
  • VACP Staff interview and vet all non law enforcement instructors that are used and personally review and approve any changes made to presentations.
  • Attendees are welcome to carry firearms on their person as long as credentials are clearly displayed if carrying unconcealed.

For more information about any of these programs, contact our Programs Manager, Stephanie Diaz, at stephanie@vachiefs.org or (804)709-1094.