Leadership Certificate Program

The Leadership Certificate Program (LCP) is a challenging, 400-hour pursuit toward leadership excellence. By combining a requirement of core and elective courses, NCJA provides LCP participants the ability to attain advanced leadership training without the expense and extended time from home and work often associated with other advanced programs. Leaders may complete required courses at their own pace and convenience. Most classes occur at one of NCJA’s campuses in Salemburg or Edneyville. Many are delivered online, virtually (live), or occur through a hybrid of both live and online classes. Recognizing that many leaders have already attended other advanced courses, participants may be able to apply a percentage of those hours toward their LCP.

Participants Requirements:

• The LCP is open to both sworn and non-sworn leaders
• Must have a minimum of three (3) years of full-time experience in a criminal justice agency
• Is considered to serve their agency in a supervisory or leadership role as defined by their agency head or regional director
• Must submit an application with an endorsement by the agency head or regional director for the agency. In choosing to endorse, the agency head should consider if the person has demonstrated potential as a leader and is likely to benefit the agency through leadership development. Also, by endorsing participation in the LCP, the Academy accepts it as a further endorsement that the agency supports and will allow the student’s participation in any required courses needed to complete the program.

Program Requirements:

• Complete a minimum of 400-hours in leadership-related topics.
  • Mandatory core requirements include:
    • The NCJA Leadership Institute (120) hours, and
    • At least one of the following 40-hour NCJA courses:
      • Leadership Development for Law Enforcement Managers
      • First Line Supervision
      • First Line Supervision for Detention
      • Tactical Leadership: Critical Lessons Learned
      • Field Traning Officer
      • Detention Field Training Officer
      • Telecommunicator Supervisor Training (24 hours) plus a minimum 16-hour course from the list of electives (this option is for telecommunicators only)
  • The remaining 240 hours include elective courses listed below or a combination of elective and outside (non-NCJA) hours earned from other schools. Examples of acceptable outside hours are leadership programs such as AOMP, West Point Leadership, Credible Leadership, FBI-NA, FBI-LEEDA, or courses taken through community colleges that are the subject matter equivalent to those in the elective list. Outside credits cannot exceed 120 hours.
• Courses completed before starting the program are credited as long as the date the course was completed does not exceed ten (10) years from the date of completion of the LCP.
• All LCP requirements must be completed within ten (10)  years of starting the program.

Eligible NCJA Courses:

Note: hours listed are subject to change. Credited hours are based on those awarded at the time you complete a course, and cannot be older than ten years from the time the LCP is completed.

Core Courses:

Online or Virtual Courses:

Other Eligible Courses:

*All credited hours are pursuant to the approval of the Program Coordinator

**Other courses are sometimes added on a permanent or temporary basis through NCJA and hold value as leadership-based training. These courses may be credited toward the LCP only when approved by the Program Coordinator. Other courses may also be in the form of annual Mandatory In-Service Training which sometimes includes a leadership-based focus. Those are credited on a case-by-case review of the subject matter. If you have taken non-NCJA courses equivalent to any of those listed, they may be eligible for outside credits.

***Specialized Instructor courses each have a leadership-based component, but their primary focus is typically on subject matter other than leadership, therefore they are credited at 10% of the total hours awarded for those courses.

****General Instructor Training is credited at 100% if it was completed prior to January 1, 2023, and 80% thereafter.

Contact Us

For More Information contact:

Kevin Tingen, Program Coordinator
(910) 926-6076

Program Application