Louisiana State Police Troop L announced the recent graduation of Lt. John Riles from the School of Police Staff and Command at Northwestern University.

Riles has successfully completed the 10-week staff and command program held in Evanston, Ill., from October to December. This program, implemented by the Center for Public Safety in 1983, has graduated over 8000 students both nationally and internationally.

Riles was a student in SPSC Class 275, which accommodated a total of 31 students for the 10-week period. During his stay at the school, Riles was elected president of Class 275. As president, he was the coordinator between the university and Class 275 throughout the 10-week course. “There is one moment that stands out the most in my mind: Class 275 was presented with the opportunity to help a fellow officer in need. His loving wife and mother of his three children was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Through the hard work and generosity of others, Class 275 was fortunate enough to present a check for $17,000 for a college fund for their children,” he said.

The School of Police Staff and Command provides upper-level college instruction in a total of 22 core or mandatory blocks of instruction and utilizes nine additional optional blocks of instruction during each session. The major topics of study include management theory, organizational behavior, human resources for law enforcement, budgeting, staffing allocation and personnel deployment. Each student is academically challenged through 18 written examinations, projects and quizzes and one research paper that are a required part of the curriculum. Upon successful completion, students may be awarded 21 units of undergraduate credit from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

The Center for Public Safety was established at Northwestern University in 1936 with the specific goal of expanding university-based education and training for the law enforcement community. Since its inception, the Center has broadened its original objective and now provides a variety of courses and programs in the areas of police training, management training, and executive development.

Louisiana State Police anticipates a variety of benefits from Riles attending this program. Many of the program’s graduates do go on to achieve a variety of leadership positions within their respective agencies. Currently, over 750 graduates hold the title of chief of police and 39 of the 50 directors of State Police agencies are graduates of this program.