Police Chief Headed to FBI Training Program

For 10 weeks starting Sunday, Chief Christopher Brock will be in Virginia, training with the FBI National Academy.

But he's not looking to become Special Agent Brock. The Academy is a training program specifically designed for law enforcement leaders.

Brock was nominated for the academy in 2011. He'll join 249 other officers in the exclusive law enforcement training program.

Brock said he would learn leadership skills, technical and operation skills, understanding of current issues in law enforcement and make valuable connections, among other things.

"All of these benefits will be brought back to the department and cultivated throughout it to make the Paramus Police Department a more professional agency," he said.

But Mayor Richard LaBarbiera criticized the Council's decision to allow Brock to leave for what the mayor called a "non-essential" training program. For the length of time Brock will be gone, LaBarbiera said the chief should have taken a leave of absence—Brock will still receive his salary while he is away.

"In these economic times I don't see the return on investment," LaBarbiera said.

Councilman Michael Rohdieck, who served as police commissioner in 2011, said Brock would be available via phone and email from Monday to Friday while he is in Virginia. Brock will also return during some weekends, Rohdieck said.

The department will be in good hands while Brock is gone, Rohdieck said.

"I was very concerned about sending him to the academy because of the 10 weeks away," Rohdieck said.  "One of the things that helped was obviously having a very good captain that could run the department while he was gone."

That captain is Ken Ehrenberg, who, until the council promoted Brian Goggin in October, was the only captain in the department.

As for Brock, he's been training for months for the final part of the training program: The Yellow Brick Road, a 9-mile run through a forest in Quantico, Va. "Participants must climb over walls, run through creeks, jump through simulated windows, scale rock faces with ropes, crawl under barbed wire in muddy water, maneuver across a cargo net, and more," the National Academy website said.

"I'm looking forward to it," Brock said.