Association News

IACLEA convened the 2020 First-Line Supervisor Institute (FLSI) in January at the University of Houston—and participants rated the course very highly.

At the University of Houston class, approximately 50 attendees took part in a variety of educational and networking programming. Highly qualified instructors led discussions on leadership, managing subordinates, performance evaluations, officer wellness, de-escalation, implicit bias, and critical incidents. The final day closed with a panel discussion featuring area campus and local public safety leaders discussing how they got to where they are and what they expect from their first-line supervisors. Participants were also treated to a networking reception on the first night, and thanks to the University of Houston, a basketball game later in the week.

Participants raved about the class. Officer Shanna Brown from the University of St. Thomas (Houston) Police Department said, “As a senior patrol officer, I found this training to be extremely beneficial and immediately applicable to my current job as a patrol officer in terms of how I follow the leadership in place.

FLSI allowed me to see a broader idea of the changes I need to make when entering a position of leadership and offered actionable steps and solutions.”

FLSI inspired another participant to continue his leadership training. “It is awesome and, heck, I am ready to attend the Executive Development Institute, as I am inspired by what a few chiefs on the panel stated in terms of wishing they had more staff members who sought to understand a police department from a bird's-eye view or rather 360. Great training, great presenters, useful and great information.”

First-line supervision is arguably the most important level of supervision within a police and public safety agency. FLSI came into being in January 2019, when the inaugural institute was held at the University of Maryland. FLSI was developed in response to IACLEA members’ requests, and it is designed to fill a training gap. Many states require certified police supervisors to attend a class on first-line supervision, so FLSI was created with certified police in mind, as well as non-certified police and non-sworn campus public safety.

For more information on IACLEA’s training program including FLSI, EDI, and training on request, contact Director of Training Josh Bronson at jbronson@iaclea.org.