VCU news

By Mike Porter

The Public Safety Institute of Virginia Commonwealth University’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs held its second graduation ceremony on Friday, April 28.

Awards were presented to 21 middle- and upper-level public safety officials representing police, corrections and fire departments across Virginia.

The participants completed six weeks of extensive management and leadership training.

“We believe this program stands head and shoulders above similar training programs,” said Clifford T. Bowen of the Newport News Police Department. The graduates elected Bowen as their class president.

Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder, who delivered the keynote address, told the graduates that education and public safety go hand in hand.

“Without public safety and well-educated neighborhoods, we have very little to leave our children,” Wilder said.

VCU introduced the Public Safety Institute in the fall of 2005 to offer public safety leaders graduate-level leadership training that has a strong nexus to homeland security.

“We believe that they will become even better managers and leaders in the continually changing public safety arena,” said Robyn Lacks, Ph.D., associate director. “This is the only program of its kind that does this sort of training in a university setting.”

The institute is now accepting applications for the fall 2006 class which will begin the second week of October.

For more information, visit http://www.has.vcu.edu/gov/psi/.