Murray, Ky.–The Murray Police Department has announced that Chief of Police Samuel Bierds has graduated from the School of Police Staff and Command Northwestern University’s Center for Public Safety.
Chief Bierds successfully completed the 22-week online Staff and Command program, which ran from May 5 through September 29, 2025. The online format delivers the same rigorous curriculum as the in-person program, while allowing participants to remain in their full-time positions and benefit from an extended instructional timeframe.
Established in 1983, the School of Police Staff and Command has graduated more than 22,000 law enforcement professionals nationwide and internationally. Chief Bierds was a member of SPSC Class #612, which included 27 students over the twenty-two-week session.
The SPSC program provides upper-level college instruction through twenty-seven core blocks of study, along with optional elective blocks. Key areas of instruction include leadership, human resources, employee relations, organizational behavior, applied statistics, planning and policy development, and budgeting and resource allocation.
Participants are academically challenged through written examinations, projects, presentations, quizzes, and a comprehensive staff study paper, all of which are required components of the curriculum. Upon successful completion, students may be awarded up to six units of undergraduate academic credit from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
The Center for Public Safety at Northwestern University was founded in 1936 to advance university-based education and training for the law enforcement community. Over the decades, the Center has expanded its mission and now offers a wide range of programs focused on police training, management education, and executive development.