Oak Lawn police Lt. Sean Heilig has graduated from the School of Police Staff & Command, a full-time, 10-week management program run by Northwestern University’s Center for Public Safety, the Oak Lawn Police Department announced.
Heilig was part of Class #648, which met in New Lenox from Aug. 24 through Nov. 6, according to the department.
The program covers leadership and management, human resources, employee relations, contemporary policing, organizational behavior, planning and policy development, budgeting and resource allocation, and media relations. It includes 27 core blocks of instruction plus electives.
Students must pass written exams, quizzes, projects and presentations, and must write a staff study research paper. Graduates may receive up to six units of undergraduate credit from Northwestern.
About 22,000 law enforcement leaders have completed the program since it started in 1983, according to the department.
The department said it expects Heilig’s training to benefit the agency and noted that many graduates go on to leadership positions in their departments. The announcement did not say what new duties, if any, Heilig will take on.
Northwestern founded the Center for Public Safety in 1936 to expand university-based training for police. It now also offers courses in traffic crash investigation and reconstruction.