Chief Bennett Takes A Course In Leadership

Chief Bennett Takes A Course In Leadership

News staff photo by REBECCA LEONARD Templeton Police Chief Michael Bennett, left, receives the FBI LEEDA Trilogy Award from Board of Selectmen Chairman John Columbus.

Rebecca Leonard
News Staff Writer

TEMPLETON  Many people have heard the phrase “leaders lead,” and that is exactly how Police Chief Michael Bennett is using his new training from the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association.

“I’m not perfect, I don’t know everything. I’m always looking to better myself. And that’s how I look at my officers, they should always be looking to improve themselves.”

After a year and a half of classes and training, Mr. Bennett was awarded the LEEDA Trilogy Award at Monday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting.

According to the FBI LEEDA website, the award is given to someone who has completed three levels of training: supervisor leadership, command leadership and executive leadership. Mr. Bennett is the first member of the Templeton Police Department to receive the award.

Usually the award is presented at a conference in May, but unfortunately, Mr. Bennett was not able to attend.

The program is designed to assist police sergeants, lieutenants and chiefs to become better leaders, and to adjust to a new generation of law enforcement.

“It’s probably the best leadership training course that I’ve ever gone to,” said Mr. Bennett.

His training has already started benefiting his officers. The program focused on how to work with employees and how to communicate better with them and take more time with them.

When Mr. Bennett first took over as chief of police, the department faced “unprecedented change.” Due to these changes, he not only had to learn how to do his job correctly, he had to train two sergeants as well.

His new training has helped him to step back and really focus on answering questions posed by his officers.

Mr. Bennett believes that other chiefs in the area would benefit from the LEEDA training, saying that it would open their eyes to a different way of law enforcement because it’s going in a community-centered direction now.

“I think that chiefs that have come up through the structured ranks could benefit from learning that they need to change how they view policing.”

Mr. Bennett’s next goal is to attend the National Academy in the spring of 2017 and would like to be able to send both of his sergeants to the LEEDA training programs in the future.