On Friday, May 24, 2024, Captain Andrew Glover of the North Charleston Police Department completed the arduous course requirements for graduation from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Command College, one of the premier formalized leadership programs in the nation. This program is designed to inspire law enforcement professionals to share best practices in serving the people, reducing crime, and building exemplary police departments of which the people can be proud.
Captain Glover’s journey began in December of 2023 with a grueling physical fitness assessment to test the physical and mental stamina of the candidates. This was a small first step in a demanding two hundred and forty-hour course spread over six months. In addition to the basics of police work, some of the command-level topics covered over that time included how to foster a professional environment at every level of a police department, leadership challenges in 21st Century policing, Public Information Officer and Community Outreach development, and providing group and individual peer support for both professional and personal situations. The course also challenged the candidates by encouraging introspection, much of it fueled by a “360 review,” a professional feedback opportunity that enables a group of colleagues, subordinates, and leaders to provide feedback about a fellow officer’s performance. To further test the mental acuity of the candidates, they were bombarded with strenuous team building and personal growth evolutions, including a series of “ropes courses” involving “low elements” (physical tasks taking place on the ground or slightly above the ground) and “high elements,” (activities on a structure of considerable height that required the candidates to perform rappels of heights between fifty and ninety-eight feet). The final daunting leadership exercise was a 24-hour climb of, and camping expedition on, the 5,946 ft Grandfather Mountain in Linville, NC.
Congratulations on this remarkable accomplishment, sir, and we look forward to you putting into practice the knowledge you gained.