VIDALIA — Vidalia Police Chief Joey Merrill recently  attended the New Chief Management Course at the Louisiana State Police Joint Emergency Services Training Center in Zachary, La., along with 46 other chiefs of police from across Louisiana. Merrill graduated the New Chief Management Course on April 7.

The New Chief Management Course is a required course that all new Louisiana chiefs of police must attend and complete. The course is 40 hours of advanced training and was presented by Law Enforcement Executive Management Institute, Louisiana Association of Chiefs of Police and Louisiana Peace Officer Standards and Training.

The new chiefs received advanced training in the role of the police chief, legalities, community diversity, officer bill of rights, ethics, Lawrason Act, risk nanagement, critical incident response and many other topics of instruction.