Back from Quantico: Kelly graduates from FBI academy

By Cameron Macdonald
Citizen Staff Writer

A city police administrator recently returned from Virginia with a broader knowledge of policing and new connections with law enforcement authorities from around the world.
Ed Kelly, assistant chief of the Elk Grove Police Department, graduated from the FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA a few weeks ago.
Kelly and a few hundred law enforcement officers from across the country and world spent 10 weeks studying police subjects including management and forensics.
“It was a long 10 weeks but the benefits I’ve gained are well worth the time I’ve spent,” he said.
Kelly does not have his academy diploma hanging on his office wall yet, but he keeps a yellow brick on his desk – an award from running the “Yellow Brick Road,” a six-mile, U.S. Marine endurance course in the humid Virginia sun.
“The most challenging thing is taking yourself out of your norm and opening yourself to all the new things,” he said. “I think I got quite a bit out of that.”
The assistant police chief helped lead the creation of the city of Elk Grove’s police force last year.
Kelly said that he applied to the FBI academy two years ago and gained his nomination to the school from the FBI’s Sacramento branch.
Less than one percent of American police officers that apply to the academy are accepted, according to the FBI.
Kelly compared his academy experience to that of going to a college for semester. He said that the school is meant to strengthen cooperation between the FBI and local law enforcement agencies and now matters more given the large national interest in Homeland Security.
“I think that this is a good way to make sure that we’re all looking at things the same way and knowing each other’s resources,” he said.
Kelly took courses in legal issues, labor law, organizational behavior, leadership ethics and forensics. He also wrote papers and conducted class presentations on subjects like an unsolved homicide case where prostitutes were killed in New York.
He spoke highly of the advances in forensic investigations such as DNA inspections where they can be easily done on minor crimes like burglary and auto theft
“We’re probably going to look at some changes that make sure we’re up to speed,” he said about his police department.
Kelly also mentioned that he learned more about how a FBI evidence team can assist in local police cases.
Kelly had classmates from Japan and Switzerland as well as other developing countries.
Kelly also spoke of a classmate from Israel where bombings and terrorist attacks are commonplace.
“We don’t realize how things are working so well in this country,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of the problems that they have.”
Kelly said that his best academy experience was making new friends and connections.
“I now have the ability to contact (law enforcement officials) anywhere in United States or outside in the world,” he said. “And, have the ability to find out information or get things done.”