Clark County Sheriff Department Detective Captain Completes FBI-LEEDA Training

Tuesday, December 21st, 2021 -- 12:01 PM

The Clark County Sheriff's Office would like to congratulate Detective Captain Kirn on successfully completing all three of the FBI-LEEDA training institutes.

These included the FBI-LEEDA course for supervisors, command, and executive personnel, for a total of 3 weeks of training. These courses are taught by former chiefs of police, and executive leaders with backgrounds in law enforcement.

Captain Kirn said the Eau Claire Police Department hosted it. They had around 25 for the supervisor and command courses, and 30 in the executive course. These fellow students came from not only around the state of Wisconsin, but from surrounding states as well.

This is a very highly sought after training throughout the country. Now that Captain Kirn has completed the training. He’s feeling much more well-rounded as a captain. Having attended all three levels of training, you get a perspective from all angles.

For example, in the executive training, one of the first rules is that you have to think like you're in charge of an entire department. The education for all three levels was definitely through student driven discussion, and speaking with all the other people in that room.

Captain Kirn also discussed some lessons that he’ll be bringing back to the Department. Firstly, during the supervisor level training they took something called DISC, which, basically, is a personality test; a tool that they can have new hires or something going through training that shows what your professional/personal personality type, and how you best learn and lead.

So, they can share those results with the field training officer of this hire, so that they have a better understanding on how to best educate that person, and foster better communication.

Secondly, it was during the command level training, they were asked to frame and create our own leadership model. After a few years as a captain, they’ve gotten the experience to couple his model with his time as a supervisor.

In leadership, your model won't always be the same. It's fluid. Additionally, utilizing the different leadership styles that were presented helps mold what your model looks like. There is no singular style of leadership that will work for everyone in your department.

Sometimes, you have to blend these different styles, because you're working with people that have very different personality types. Lastly, the resilient leadership training was an important lesson for me.

In the book it reads, "policing is a world of complexity and change. We must learn from our failures to spare others from failures." All of the captains and sergeants in the Clark County Sheriff’s Department have attended the supervisor level course.

However, currently, Detective Kirn is the only employee in the Sheriff's Office to have attended all three levels. The Department’s plan is to have all captains and supervisors attended every level in the next year.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.