William M. Toms retired from the New Jersey State Police in 2008 after 25 years of distinguished service. While serving as the interim Deputy Superintendent of Investigations in 2008, he exercised oversight of all investigations performed by both the Intelligence and the Special Investigations Sections, as well as the functions of the state’s nationally accredited forensic laboratories. This included the management of 800 individuals (sworn law enforcement officers, scientists, analysts, and professional support staff) and a budget of approximately $80 million.
As the Commanding Officer of the Intelligence Section at the rank of Major, he supervised a staff of 250 investigators, analysts, and professional support staff in intelligence-led policing operations involving criminal street gangs, organized crime, narcotics trafficking, cargo theft, casino investigations, government corruption, and counter-terrorism. With a $30 million budget for staffing, transportation fleet, and procurement, he successfully directed sophisticated statewide investigative operations throughout the state that led to the arrest of hundreds of persons and the dismantling of dangerous criminal networks.
Prior to leading the investigative and intelligence operations for the New Jersey State Police, he was the Executive Officer of the Office of Professional Standards (OPS) and the Division Human Resources Section. In his role in OPS, Major Toms (Ret.) directed internal investigations, inspections, and audit functions for the State Police. Major Toms utilized all three of these functions, especially after reorganizing the functions of the staff inspectors, to ensure both internal and external stakeholders that Troopers were performing their jobs in a professional, CALEA compliant, and compassionate manner. In his role as Executive Officer of the Division Human Resources Section (DHRS), Major Toms (Ret.) oversaw all training and organizational development functions throughout the organization. This included designing and implementing an organizational plan to attain CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies) accreditation for the New Jersey State Police as an overall strategy to continually maintain nationally recognized best practices in law enforcement. On July 28, 2007, Major Toms testified as the official representative of the New Jersey State Police before the CALEA Commission in Montreal, Quebec. Based upon his leadership of the State Police CALEA initiative, the New Jersey State Police was awarded the national CALEA accreditation at this conference.
Leading up to his roles in OPS and DHRS, Major Toms (Ret.) was Commandant of the New Jersey State Police Academy. While leading the Academy as the New Jersey State Police was under a federal consent decree, he reorganized the training staff while training several hundred recruits during one of the largest hiring periods in State Police history. During this period, an Independent Monitoring Team (IMT) for the United States Department of Justice published a semi-annual report to the Department of Justice concluding that “the focus, attention to detail, commitment of resources and results achieved by the Academy this period to be exceptional” (Twelfth Independent Monitor’s Report, p. iv, 97). As Commandant, he directed changes that included how training was delivered, implemented a comprehensive e-learning platform and Learning Management System (LMS) through a strategic alliance with another government agency, and introduced a complete line of executive development courses for the organization’s senior management. To coincide with the executive development courses at the Academy, all members of the Superintendent’s Command Staff were compelled for the first time to produce strategic plans for their commands. During his tenure as Commandant, the Criminal Justice Training Assessment Team from Excelsior College, funded by the United States Department of Justice (Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance) performed an assessment of the New Jersey State Police Academy’s basic and advanced programs and awarded 70 college credits for courses offered at the NJSP academy.
Major Toms holds a Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and public administration from The College of New Jersey, a Master’s degree in educational administration and supervision from Seton Hall University, and an Ed.D. in human resource development from The George Washington University. Doctor Toms focused his doctoral research on the relationship between leadership behaviors and learning styles.
As a New Jersey Police Training Commission and FBI certified law enforcement instructor, Dr. Toms has lectured to thousands of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers in training programs throughout New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Dr. Toms was an instructor at the H.I.D.T.A. Regional Training Center at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and has also conducted specialized in–service training for members of the State Police. He has assisted in the implementation of training programs at various law enforcement agencies and has authored articles in national publications on this topic.
Dr. Toms has been an adjunct faculty member of Fairleigh Dickinson University since 2000, instructing various courses in organizational behavior, development, communications, and leadership. Additionally, Dr. Toms is a member of the Brookdale Community College Criminal Justice Advisory Committee.
Dr. Toms is a Certified Fraud Examiner, a state certified mediator, and is a reviewer for Human Resource Development Review |