Laurens Police Chief Selected to attend FBI National Command Course

The Laurens Police Department announced today that Chief Keith Grounsell was selected to attend the FBI National Command Course (NCC) Session 4 (May 15-19, 2023) in Quantico, Virginia at the FBI Academy.

The National Command Course (NCC) was first developed in 2020 to fill a void in FBI strategic leadership training programs for policing executives. According to their website, in the United States, law enforcement agencies with fewer than 50 sworn employees comprise over 80% of departments, yet leaders of these agencies often lack funding and/or manpower availability to send employees away for weeks at a time to attend nationally recognized executive leadership programs.

The inaugural session of NCC took place in 2021 and continues to graduate 100 law enforcement executives annually.

“I am honored to be selected from Chiefs and Sheriffs across the nation to attend the 4th session of the FBI National Command Course,” said Chief Grounsell. “I look forward to enhancing my existing leadership skills and networking with others to allow me to better serve the community.”

The one-week program includes numerous benefits including improved relationships between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve, increased liaison between departments resulting in more effective policing, and enhanced public safety overall.

Topics covered in the advanced training include:

• Strategic leadership
• Image management
• Officer wellness
• Preventing targeted violence

Participants must be the chief executive of a domestic law enforcement agency with fewer than 50 sworn personnel and cannot be a graduate of the National Academy, NEI, or LEEDS.

Participants also must be nominated for consideration and then be chosen from a nationwide selection process.