Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Kirn
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 1/05/2022
Kirn, Captain Kerry (FBI Training - 2021)
Detective Captain Kerry Kirn of the Clark County Sherriff’s Office recently completed three training institutes through the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Development Association that he said were beneficial to him.
Submitted photo
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office has extended its congratulations to Detective Captain Kerry Kirn for successfully completing three training institutes through the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Development association (FBI-LEEDA).
The training included the FBI-LEEDA courses for supervisors, command and executive personnel, for a total of three weeks of training. These courses are taught by former chiefs of police and executive leaders with backgrounds in law enforcement.
“I’m feeling much more well-rounded as a captain,” said Kirn after finishing the training, per a Dec. 20 Facebook post from the sheriff’s department. “Having attended all three levels of training, you get a perspective from all angles. For example, in the executive training, one of the first rules is that you have to think like you’re in charge of an entire department. The education for all three levels was definitely through student-driven discussion and speaking with all the other people in that room. [It was] absolutely one of the best trainings I’ve ever had.”
The Eau Claire Police Department hosted the training. There were around 25 participants in the supervisor and command courses, and 30 in the executive course. The students came from around Wisconsin and the surrounding states as well.
“This is a very highly sought-after training throughout the country,” Kirn said.
Kirn had several takeaways from the training that he can apply to his work with the sheriff’s department.
During the supervisor level training, he took the DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness) assessment. It’s a personality test that can be used to help improve teamwork, communication and productivity in the workplace. Kirn said the DISC assessment could be used with new hires or someone going through training.
“It shows your professional/personal personality type and how you best learn and lead. So, we can share those results with the field training officer of this hire, so that they have a better understanding on how to best educate that person and foster better communication,” said Kirn.
In the command level training, participants were asked to frame and create their own leadership model. Kirn said that since he has been captain for a few years, he was able to tailor his model to his experience as a supervisor.
“In leadership, your model won’t always be the same. It’s fluid. Additionally, utilizing the different leadership styles that were presented helps mold what your model looks like. There is no singular style of leadership that will work for everyone in your department. Sometimes, you have to blend these different styles, because you’re working with people that have very different personality types,” Kirn said.
Kirn also indicated that he found value in the resilient leadership training.
“Our book reads, ‘Policing is a world of complexity and change. We must learn from our failures to spare others our failures,’ which is why I really appreciated learning about that,” said Kirn.
The sheriff’s office has made it a priority to provide regular trainings like this to its officers. All the captains and sergeants have completed the supervisor level course. However, Kirn is the only sheriff’s office employee to have attended all three levels. There are plans being made to have all captains and supervisors attend the levels they have yet to complete in the next year.
