MANSFIELD: Officer graduates leadership program

By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
   MANSFIELD — Lieutenant Ronald Mulhall has graduated from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, West Point Command and Leadership Program.
   Lt. Mulhall completed the 14-week police leadership program, which was held at the Holiday Inn National Conference Center in East Windsor, on Dec. 16.
   Mansfield Director of Public Safety Richard Bendel said it is very difficult to get into the program, which he described as similar to a management class.
   Meeting weekly, the course covered a number of management topics, such as leadership as a science, behavioral and motivational theories, stress management and adjustment, communication and counseling, inter-group conflict management, and decision making. It aims to teach its students how to apply these principals to modern policing in the real world.
   Lt. Mulhall was the first officer the department has sent, and Director Bendel said he would like to send more officers to the school, possibly next year.
   ”Part of our goal is to continue to further professionalize the department by getting more advanced training,” Mr. Bendel said.