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TORONTO, May 2, 2002 -- A third group of police executives will graduate tomorrow from an MBA-style program at the University of Toronto's Joseph L. Rotman School of Management. Their newly acquired management and leadership skills will help them to better meet the challenges in today's complex, ever changing policing environment. For the first time, the program includes national participants from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Forces Military Police.

The Police Leadership Program was developed in partnership with the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP). The first MBA-style program for police executives in Canada is an intensive, four-week course with a customized curriculum that focuses on leadership and strategy. The program also covers financial management, human resources, and communications.

"Today's police leaders need the ability to make strategic decisions that ensures the public continues to benefit from a high level of service and protection," said Professor Joseph D'Cruz, Program Director of the Police Leadership Program at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. "Police executives need many of the same skills and processes that make business managers successful."

The current class includes 22 senior officers and 2 civilian managers representing 15 provincial police services from across Ontario and the RCMP and military police. The program features classroom instruction by Rotman faculty, peer interaction, plus presentations by business leaders and police-related speakers, such as Toronto Police Services Chief Julian Fantino, RCMP Commissioner Guliano Zaccardelli and OPP Commissioner Gwen Boniface.

"Graduates of this program have demonstrated that the knowledge gained from this learning experience is immediately applicable to their roles in all police services, whatever their size and location," said Glenn Stannard, Chief of the Windsor Police Service and OACP President. "Every police service must be prepared to protect the public against crime that can originate locally or internationally. To do that, police executives need to know how to maximize the effectiveness of their departments. This is exactly the type of understanding obtained from the Police Leadership Program."

The ceremonial graduation for the current class takes place at the Rotman School, Friday, May 3, 2002 beginning at 5 pm. Attending the ceremony will be police chiefs and senior officers, civic representatives, OACP members, the graduates' families, and alumni of the program.

Thirty-two police executives representing 15 police services from across Ontario attended the program in 2001 and will also return to the Rotman School on May 3 for a special alumni day.

The OACP is a professional services organization of more than 1,000 members that promotes competent administration of policing services, co-ordinates police training and education and provides timely information to its members. The Association continually strives to increase the efficiency of law enforcement agencies for the protection and service of the people of Ontario.

The University of Toronto's Joseph L. Rotman School of Management offers leading-edge research and degree programs, including the prestigious Rotman MBA, the Rotman Part-Time MBA, the One Year MBA for Executives, a first-rate Doctoral Program, the distinctive Master of Management & Professional Accounting program, the undergraduate Commerce program in partnership with the Faculty of Arts and Science, combined programs with the University of Toronto faculties of Law, Engineering and Nursing, and an innovative series of Executive Programs tailored to the current needs of businesses and individual managers.

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