E.B. officer graduates public safety program

East Brunswick Police Lt. Alan Quercia recently graduated from the School of Police Staff and Command (SPSC) at Northwestern University.

Quercia successfully completed the 10- week staff and command program held in Philadelphia from February to June. The School of Police Staff and Command provides upper-level college instruction in a total of 22 core or mandatory blocks of instruction, and uses nine additional optional blocks of instruction during each session. The major topics of study include: management and management theory, organizational behavior, human resources for law enforcement, budgeting, staffing allocation and personnel deployment.

Each student is challenged academically through a total of 18 exams, projects and quizzes, in addition to two research papers that are a required part of the curriculum. Upon successful completion, students may be awarded a total of eight units of undergraduate credit from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

The Center for Public Safety, which implemented the program, was established at Northwestern University in 1936 with the specific goal of expanding university-based education and training for the law enforcement community.

The East Brunswick Police Department anticipates a variety of benefits from Quercia’s completion of the program. Many of its graduates go on to achieve a variety of leadership positions within their respective agencies. Currently, more than 750 graduates hold the title of chief of police, and 39 of the 50 directors of state police agencies in the U.S. are also graduates.