Leadership Development for Law Enforcement is a 10-hour online course for officers and supervisors who want to become better leaders and are willing to do some honest self-examination to get there. It is thought-provoking, self-focused, and built around real-world experience from law enforcement, emergency management, and fire and EMS.

It is also a bit snarky and a lot sarcastic, because 10 hours of reading about leadership theory should at least be entertaining.

What You Will Cover

Leadership Introduction and Organizational Analysis

What leadership actually is versus what people think it is, and an honest look at the organization you are currently operating in. Most officers have opinions about their department's leadership culture. This section gives you a framework to analyze it rather than just complain about it.

Personal Leadership Evaluation and SWOT Analysis

A structured assessment of your own leadership strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This is the section that makes some people uncomfortable. That is the point.

Leadership Theories

A review of the major leadership frameworks, what the research actually says about them, and how they apply in a law enforcement context. A reference guide is provided as a course material.

Leadership and Influence, Power and Influence

How effective leaders actually get things done, what the difference is between authority and influence, and how to build the kind of credibility that makes people follow you when they do not have to.

Decision Making and Problem Solving

How good leaders make decisions under pressure, how bad leaders make the same decisions and get different outcomes, and what separates the two.

Communication

How to deliver information clearly, receive feedback without getting defensive, and have the conversations that most supervisors avoid until they become disciplinary issues.

Required materials include the 7 Habits Profile self-assessment and a Leadership Theories reference guide. Upon completion and submission of required materials, students receive a certificate of completion.

Who This Course Is For

Leadership Development for Law Enforcement is built for patrol officers, sergeants, and supervisors at any rank who are serious about becoming better leaders and willing to be honest about where they currently fall short. It is not a feel-good seminar. It requires you to look at yourself and your organization with some objectivity, which is harder than it sounds and more useful than anything else in this course description.

What Makes This Course Different

Most leadership training is designed to be sat through. This course is designed to be uncomfortable in the useful way. It draws on real-world experience from law enforcement, emergency management, and fire and EMS. It is snarky, occasionally sarcastic, and built to keep you engaged through 10 hours of reading-based instruction on a subject that most people tune out inside of 20 minutes.

The 7 Habits Profile is a required component. You will download it, complete it, and submit it for credit. If you are technologically challenged, contact RTI for help. No shame in that.

The Hard Part

Self-assessment is the part of leadership training that actually changes behavior. This course forces a genuine look at your own leadership style, your organization's culture, and the gap between where you are and where you need to be. That process is not always flattering. Do it anyway.

Course Format

10 hours of reading-based online instruction. Self-paced. Course materials include a Leadership Theories reference guide and the required 7 Habits Profile. Certificate of completion issued upon finishing the course and submitting required materials. Idaho POST-certified.

Most law enforcement training exists because someone needed to fill a POST requirement. You've sat through that training. You know exactly what it looks like.

RTI courses are built by working investigators who got tired of watching officers fail in the field because their training never matched reality. Every module is grounded in current forensic science, tested against real case outcomes, and built to hold up in court, not just in a classroom.

No rubber-stamp certificates. No recycled slide decks from a decade ago. No instructors whose only qualification is that they once attended the course they're now teaching.

If you do the work, you'll leave with skills you can use on your next shift.
That's the standard RTI trains to.

Who should take this course?

Patrol officers, supervisors, and anyone in a leadership role or working toward one. The course is built for law enforcement but draws on leadership experience across first responder disciplines. No prior leadership training is required.

Is this course POST-certified?

Yes. The course is Idaho POST-certified.

Is this a video course?

No. Leadership Development is reading-based instruction. The 10 hours are built around written materials, self-assessments, and applied analysis of your own organization and leadership style.

What is the 7 Habits Profile?

A required self-assessment included in the course materials. You complete it, scan or photograph it, and submit it where indicated for credit. It is part of the self-examination component that makes this course worth the 10 hours.

How long does the course take?

10 hours of instruction. Self-paced.

Is a certificate issued upon completion?

Yes. Students who complete the course and submit required materials receive a certificate of completion.