OSKALOOSA — The city of Oskaloosa and Oskaloosa Police Department announced the recent graduation of Chief Benjamin Boeke from the School of Police Staff and Command (SPSC) at Northwestern University.
Chief Boeke has successfully completed the 22 week Staff and Command program held in Evanston, Illinois from May 2 – October 2, 2022. This program, which was implemented by the Center for Public Safety in 1983, has graduated over 30,000 students both nationally and internationally. Chief Boeke was a student in SPSC Class #524 which accommodated a total of 21 students for the 22 week period.
The School of Police Staff and Command provides upper-level college instruction in a total of 27 core blocks of instruction and additional optional blocks during each session. The major topics of study include: Leadership, Human Resources, Employee Relations, Organizational Behavior, Applied Statistics, Planning and Policy Development, Budgeting and Resource Allocation.
Each student is academically challenged through written examinations, projects, presentations and quizzes in addition to a staff study paper that are all required parts of the curriculum. Upon successful completion, students may be awarded a total of six units of undergraduate credit from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
The Center for Public Safety was established at Northwestern University in 1936 with the specific goal of expanding university-based education and training for the Law Enforcement Community. Since its inception, the Center has broadened its original objective and now provides a variety of courses and programs in the area of Police Training, Management Training, and Executive Development.
The city and department anticipate a variety of benefits from Chief Boeke’s attendance at this program. Many of the program’s graduates do go on to achieve a variety of leadership positions within their respective agencies.