Charles County, Md- The Charles County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) is pleased to announce the recent completion of a six-week intensive high-level training curriculum for CCSO staff instructors who are responsible for training other members of the agency. “Ongoing training is critical in our profession to keep pace with the expectations of policing in today’s world,” said Sheriff Troy D. Berry. “We are committed to providing our staff with training that keeps us in the forefront of community policing while also acknowledging the calls for service that are potentially dangerous and acquiring the skills and knowledge needed to help de-escalate those situations,” Sheriff Berry said.
Under “Train the Trainer” courses, CCSO instructors received the most up-to-date training in critical subject matters such as De-escalation Techniques; Duty to Intervene; Crisis Intervention Techniques; Building Community Trust; Critical Thinking and Emotional Intelligence; and Personal Leadership, among other classes. The training was taught primarily by Dr. Melayne V. Smith, Ph.D., with assistance from Dr. Gregory Campbell, Ph.D. Dr. Smith is a recognized community-policing expert and is currently a contributing faculty member at Walden University in the School of Criminal Justice. Dr. Campbell has over 20 years of federal law enforcement experience and is a faculty member at Walden University where he focuses his teaching on leadership development.
“We saw value in Dr. Smith’s knowledge years ago. We knew about her passion for building better police-community relations through her work with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. In fact, in August 2015, I asked Dr. Smith to host a workshop here in Charles County titled, ‘Community Policing for the 21st Century: Building Community Partnerships, Emotional Intelligence and Cross-Cultural Communications; Training Police Officers to Face the Challenges of an Increasingly Complex Society.’ That event was attended by members of the Charles County Chapter of the NAACP; community leaders and activists who joined various components from our agency such as patrol officers, corrections, and command staff. Participants talked openly and honestly about perceptions in policing and cultural differences. Together, the group looked for ways to enhance the relationships we already have within our communities and ways to reach out to others. The feedback we received from that initial class was extremely positive and led us to tap into Dr. Smith’s skills once again for this latest training,” said Sheriff Berry.
“Being able to bring this expertise directly to our staff helps us be more prepared and better equipped when responding to calls for service. Whether it’s patrol and safety tactics, police-community relations, management, or leadership, we plan to continue offering our staff new and updated skills to better serve our county,” said Sheriff Berry.
Prior to teaching, Dr. Smith served with the Metropolitan Police Department where she retired as a Lieutenant and the senior administrator of the Security Officers Management Branch after 23 years of service. She earned her Ph.D. in Management and Public Safety leadership from Capella University where she was selected as a Presidential Scholar for academic excellence.