Sheriff completes FBI's National Command Course
Jun. 22—GALLIPOLIS — Gallia County Sheriff Matt Champlin was recently offered the opportunity to attend the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Command Course (NCC) in Stafford, Va.
According to a news release from the sheriff, the National Command Course is a leadership seminar which spanned five days and encompassed leadership topics such as media communications, futures of law enforcement, preventing targeted violence, body worn cameras, officer fitness and wellness, weapons and ballistics and legal matters. In addition, the sheriff was provided a tour of the Bureau's academy campus and learned what resources the bureau has available to aid their law enforcement partners to prevent and investigate crimes in local jurisdictions. The training was established to build and enhance relationships with the bureau's law enforcement partners with sworn staffs of under 50 personnel.
"It was truly an honor to be offered this opportunity to learn from the F.B.I. and their staff. This was the inaugural session of this training, which I was recommended for by our partners from the F.B.I. Columbus field office. The opportunity to attend this training is a testament to the relationships we continue to build with our state and federal partners through our office, which continue to enhance our abilities to solve crimes, bring fugitives to justice and protect the citizens we serve here in Gallia County," stated Sheriff Champlin via the news release.
Following the training, Sheriff Champlin spoke with the Tribune about his experience completing the National Command Course.
"We've worked really hard to build a relationship with our local FBI field office...it was very humbling to receive an offer to go to something of this magnitude," he said.
Beyond the training, the sheriff relayed the networking between law enforcement personnel proved just as valuable.
"Crime doesn't have boundaries and often times we need to reach out to other jurisdictions," he explained, adding, while in Virginia, he met other sheriffs and police chiefs from Alaska, California, Florida as well as all across the United States.
As for how the training could benefit the people of Gallia County in regards to how his office operates, Champlin said he was already implementing some of the systems he'd learned following course completion.
"We send our folks to training all the time to make sure that they're sharpening their skills, to make sure that they're doing the things out on the streets that they need to do," he said. "It's also important for me to bring back some new leadership perspective, so that we're always thinking outside of the box and we're not getting stagnant in one spot from the leadership perspective...so that we're always trying to change, adapt, overcome and get better."
Beth Sergent contributed to this article.
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