The Institute for Strategic International Studies (ISIS) was conceived in late 2001 in the wake of 9/11.  Drawing upon the experience and talents of a national cross-section of police educators, the program was designed to introduce new competencies and global perspectives to Canada's current and future leaders in policing and related public safety agencies, while enhancing the collective and individual capabilities of the organizations that comprise the Canadian criminal justice community.

ISIS is based upon an experiential, problem-based learning and research model that combines classroom sessions, independent on-line study and computer-mediated conferencing with international field research into a variety of operational and management aspects of policing and justice administration. To date, 82 police leaders representing 20 agencies have conducted global policing research in 23 nation-states around the world.

The ISIS executive learning process is mapped to all prevailing competency models for Canadian police leaders, with an added and somewhat unique mix of learning dimensions that includes interpretive social science, qualitative inquiry, geo-political awareness, international cooperation, international development, and international policing and peacekeeping.

ISIS is owned and operated by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP).  For each cohort, the CACP Board assigns a research theme that is closely aligned with the priority issues facing the association, its member agencies and the country.  This theme represents the ‘complex, messy problem’ that drives the problem-based learning for each member of the team. 

Each ISIS team is collectively challenged to interpret their theme into a valid and meaningful research question, and, by combining expert inputs, domestic research and carefully targeted field studies, to produce results of significant value to their own agencies and to the broader policing and public safety community.

The ISIS Program Delivery Team

Program Director – Norman E. Taylor, MDE

Norm Taylor is an independent consultant and adult educator whose 33 year practice has focused on matters of socio-economic change, public policy, public safety governance, policing futures, strategic planning, executive and organizational development and lifelong learning designs.  For more information, please visit Norm’s professional profile website at www.netL3.com

Peter Cuthbert – CACP Executive Director

Veronica Lahti – CACP Projects Coordinator

Trevor McCagherty – Executive Program Advisor