The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to announce the recent graduation of Sergeant Gianni Giamberduca and Sergeant Sara Balmes from Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command (SPSC) Class #425.  

Sheriff Mark Curran was invited to lead the Invocation and Benediction at the graduation and Milwaukee Chief of Police Edward Flynn was the keynote speaker for the graduation ceremony.  

The ten-week School of Police Staff and Command program was held in Evanston, Illinois at Northwestern University’s Center for Public Safety. Since the program's inception in 1983, Northwestern University's Center for Public Safety has graduated tens-of-thousands of students both nationally and internationally.  The School of Police Staff and Command provides college-level instruction in a total of twenty-seven core blocks of instruction during each session.  The major study topics include leadership, human resources, employee relations, organizational behavior, applied statistics, planning and policy development, budgeting and resource allocation.

Sergeants Balmes and Giamberduca along with their class colleagues, raised over $7,100 as a legacy gift for Operation Shattered Stars.  Operation Shattered Stars is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating and assisting members of the law enforcement community to be proactive in their mental health.  Additionally, members of SPSC Class #425 gathered donations for Featherfist, a Chicago based non-profit organization dedicated to giving “power and purpose” to those in the homeless community, including homeless veterans.  

In addition to the SPSC graduation, Deputy Chief Michael Keller and Lieutenant Anthony Parisi were presented with Public Safety Executive Leadership Awards for successfully completing Northwestern University’s School of Police Personnel, School of Police Staff and Command, and the Executive Management Program.

Sheriff Mark Curran said, “Part of our ‘raising the bar’ at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office is ensuring our personnel receive the best training possible.  Over the past ten weeks, Sergeant Giamberduca and Sergeant Balmes were challenged on academic, professional, and leadership levels.  Both sergeants learned new concepts and philosophies they will impart in those they supervise.  I’m very proud of the academic achievements of Deputy Chief Keller, Lieutenant Parisi, Sergeant Balmes, and Sergeant Giamberduca!”