EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’ S REPORT
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’ S REPORT
MITCHELL C. SKLAR
THE“ YEAR” IN REVIEW
The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | June 2025
Each of us live in multiple“ years.” There is the traditional calendar year, the academic year, a fiscal year, even our own personal year commencing annually on our birthday. Now that the month of June has arrived, we have come to the end of our NJSACOP programming year. And what a year it has been. To say that it has been a challenging year would be to commit a serious understatement. Great credit goes to our association leadership, and in particular our President John Russo, for guiding the organization and our membership through difficult times, both within our state and on the national level. Everyone reading this is all too well aware of both the new as well as the lingering issues that confront law enforcement leaders, and it has been a privilege to work beside John and our entire association leadership team throughout this past year.
Difficult as the environment may be, it was still an outstanding year for the association. Our programming year got off to a great start in June with the 112th Annual NJSACOP Training Conference & Police / Security Expo. Eric Daigle and Chief Jarrod Burguan provided excellent professional development presentations, while the Installation Banquet was highlighted by the keynote remarks of FBI Newark Special Agent in Charge Jim Dennehy. The Conference as a whole was both informative and enjoyable.
In July we conducted another session of our Senior Leaders Course, this time in collaboration with our great partners, the Greater Manchester( UK) Police. As usual, Sedgley Park was an amazing space in which to base this program, which featured in-class and off-site inputs and learning.
In September we resumed our usual schedule of Monthly State Police Chiefs Briefings. I believe the agendas throughout the programming year were filled with important information; I know that attendance was standing room only. September was also the start of the 2024-2025 online Speaker Series, which were presented the second Monday of each month through June. That month also featured the annual session of the NJSACOP Foundation for Executive Leadership course, as well as one of our widely renown staff ride programs, the Gettysburg Leadership Experience.
October featured our Contemporary Issues in Police Administration course and a hearing of the NJSACOP Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission. It was a truly busy month; in addition to the annual IACP Conference, our Board of Directors conducted a series of meetings and briefings with leaders from various Italian national police agencies, continuing to strengthen our association’ s international partnerships, as well as keeping our leadership informed about important emerging trends and strategies in the law enforcement community.
December kicked off with our( somewhat confusingly named) Mid-Year 1-Day Conference. The calendar year ended with the 2024 NJSACOP Advanced Professional Police Practices program in London. Once again we’ re extremely fortunate to have the great cooperation of the London Metropolitan Police and Scotland Yard, the City of London Police, the National Police Coordination Centre, and the London-based US federal law enforcement attachés.
In January the association’ s online 2025 Police Chiefs In-Services Series got underway, running most Fridays until April. The association also hosted the NJSACOP Command & Leadership Graduation Ceremony for the Fall 2024 session of the Academy.
In February the Board of Officers made their annual visit to Washington, DC, to meet with the leadership of several of our federal law enforcement partners. The visit also included briefings from Congressional representatives and security officials.
March brought the annual New Police Chiefs Orientation course, as well as another NJSACOP Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission hearing. The association presented the latest session of our Normandy / D-Day Leadership Experience in April, and in May we presented the 23rd Session of the NJSACOP Police Executive Institute, as well as the Spring 2025 NJSACOP Command & Leadership Graduation Ceremony.
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