One word that perhaps best portrays SPSBE's Division
of Public Safety Leadership is innovation. How else to
describe an academic unit that in one year can host a
national meeting on gang violence (with prominent gang
leaders in attendance); conduct a ride through the
Gettysburg battlefield to teach leadership and management
principles; and place city, state and federal law
enforcement leaders from around the country into one
classroom.
Now in its 10th year, the
Division of Public Safety
Leadership has grown from its relatively humble roots
to become the model for leadership training in the public
safety field, which includes policing, firefighting,
federal law enforcement and community watchdog groups.
Sheldon Greenberg, the division's founding director,
says that even as DPSL prepares to enter its second decade,
it continues to be unique.
"The way we supply leadership training by combining
liberal arts and a business curriculum, the way we conduct
our efforts in outreach — nobody in the country does it the
way we do," Greenberg says.
Established in 1994, the DPSL has a core mission to
provide educational programs that foster the intellectual,
ethical and social development of current and future
leaders in public safety. Through its programs, the
division aims to strengthen and sustain communities and to
promote collaboration among people, organizations and
agencies.
At its heart, the division offers two degree-granting
programs, the Police Executive Leadership Program and the
U.S. Secret Service Executive Development Program. Its
students, who must hold a rank in their field, earn either
a master of science in management or a bachelor of science
in management degree. The two-year part-time program offers
advanced course work in management, leadership, philosophy,
advanced technology and liberal arts. Classes are held
primarily at the university's Columbia Center, at 6740
Alexander Bell Dr. in Columbia, Md., with additional course
work hosted at the Homewood campus, Downtown Center and
Montgomery County Campus.
While current issues in criminal justice are discussed
in the classroom, there are no courses dedicated to the
subject, Greenberg says, as those entering the program
already have a solid understanding of criminology.
Its first year, one cohort group of 24 law enforcement
officers from Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and several
Maryland counties enrolled in the Police Executive
Leadership Program.
To date, more than 340 individuals have passed through
the program, with graduates representing 23 federal, state
and local agencies. Of that number, more than 30 have gone
on to become chiefs of police, two to fire chiefs and six
to prominent positions in federal agencies.
Each year the degree-granting programs promptly fill
up, Greenberg says, and all without the use of marketing.
"It's mostly word of mouth, and reputation," he says.
"What is equally remarkable is that people don't apply to
the programs; they have to be recommended by their chief
executive, whether it be a chief of police, commissioner or
superintendent."
PELP now enrolls six cohort groups annually. Its
faculty includes full-time and adjunct professors from
Johns Hopkins, noted scholars from other universities, and
leading business, government, nonprofit and law enforcement
practitioners.
In addition to academic training, the division hosts
conferences, colloquia, seminars and forums on subjects
related to public safety, such as school safety, advancing
community policing, citizen patrols and first-responder
readiness. In spring 2004, the DPSL hosted and participated
in the national Post-9/11 Roundtable, a three-session event
in Baltimore that brought together top law enforcement
officials from the United States and Canada, including
police chiefs, sheriffs and officials in transit, campus
and tribal policing.
Last month, the division, in conjunction with the
mid-Atlantic Regional Community Policing Institute, hosted
and helped identify participants for the National Summit on
Campus Public Safety: Strategies for Colleges and
Universities in a Homeland Security Environment, an event
held at the university's Mt. Washington Center. The purpose
of the three-day summit was to help ensure the continued
safety and security of the nation's colleges and
universities, with special attention to preventing and
responding to acts of terrorism. To this end, it brought
together higher education leaders and authorities on
subjects such as policing and bioterrorism to make
recommendations and develop a national agenda on campus
safety.
Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Greenberg served as
associate director of the Police Executive Research Forum,
a law enforcement think tank and research center. He began
his career as a police officer in Howard County and rose to
the rank of commander of the administrative services
bureau. He is a founding member and past president of the
Maryland Crime Prevention Association and has advised
police agencies in Cyprus, Jordan, Kenya, Panama, Pakistan
and the Czech Republic, among others.
A leading advocate of grass roots, neighborhood
policing, the division supported the creation of the
Neighborhood Leadership Initiative, a rigorous yearlong
program designed to support citizens who are community
leaders. The 118-hour course, offered in conjunction with
the Citizens Planning and Housing Association, addresses
issues such as interacting with political leaders,
sustaining young people as volunteers, reducing
neighborhood fear and dealing with vacant housing. By the
end of the program, all participants have developed an
action plan for their neighborhood.
In the coming months, the division will begin offering
a Homeland Security degree and certificate, both of which
will focus on the role of leaders in managing homeland
security and instilling it into the culture of American
society. In addition, the division is planning to offer
graduate and undergraduate degrees and certificate programs
in intelligence analysis. Students will be drawn from the
fields of police, fire, emergency medicine and public
health.
Greenberg says that the division has been engaged in
global public safety issues since its founding and will
continue to be.
"We have to keep doing what we are doing because the
structure of the profession is so fragmented. If we at
Hopkins do not facilitate collaboration through quality
education and other opportunities, the fragmentation that
exists in public safety will forever inhibit progress," he
says. "We must do all we can to overcome parochialism among
our agencies and jurisdictions. If you're a physician, a
journalist or a mechanic, you must know about your field
and keep up to date with the latest trends and practices,
but if you're a police officer or police commander, you
only have to know what goes on in your department; as an
individual within the profession, you assume little or no
responsibility for bettering yourself. That is where we
come in."
For more information, go to psl.jhu.edu.
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