Suffolk Police Capt. James D. Buie recently graduated from the FBI National Academy, a prestigious professional development course for law enforcement leaders internationally.

“It’s a good opportunity,” Buie said of the academy. “You get to meet a lot of good people from, in our case, 47 different states and 21 different countries.”

The academy is a 10-week program held at Quantico that is taught by FBI special agents and other instructors who hold advanced degrees and are internationally recognized experts in their fields of expertise.

Buie said he studied counterterrorism, the psychology of leadership, media relations, investigation of violent crimes and crisis negotiations. All of the classes included assignments such as research papers and case studies.

“Most of the classes are gauged towards what commanders need to know,” he said, as the majority of attendees are or will soon be law enforcement executives.

Buie said his leadership class stressed the importance of supervisors focusing on the people they lead.

“It’s all about the people that you supervise and leading them in the right direction,” he said. “The mark of a good leader is when your people don’t need you anymore.”

They also stressed the importance of family. In one class, participants shared stories about events that shaped their leadership style, and most of the stories — including Buie’s — focused on family.

“You can’t get so involved that you forget what got you there in the first place, and that’s your family,” he said.

The training also reinforced the importance of community partnerships.

“Partnering with your community is of utmost importance,” he said.

Buie capped off the experience by participating in the Yellow Brick Road, a 6.1-mile obstacle course built by the Marines that was a culmination of physical challenges the participants had been completing during the program.

“It was fun but challenging for sure,” Buie said. Participants helped each other rather than raced: “We all pushed each other. You assist them and motivate them along the way. The goal is to help each other.”

Buie said partnerships forged during the program could be helpful down the road.

“The partnerships made due to the national academy, you can’t measure that,” he said. “I can call anybody in 21 countries and 47 states with something I need, and they’re going to help me.”

Buie said he appreciated the opportunity to attend the academy.

“I want to thank Chief Bennett for giving me the opportunity to go,” he said. “And my family for sucking up the burden of 10 weeks of me being gone.”

He also thanked Lt. John McCarley, who served as acting captain while Buie was out of town.

“I really would like to thank him, because he stepped up to the plate and did a really good job while I was gone,” Buie said.

Buie has been with the police department since 1996 and was promoted to captain in 2013. He serves on the SWAT team and was named officer of the year in 2000 and supervisor of the year in 2007.

Buie has excelled before in leadership training endeavors. In 2014, he attended the 35th session of the Professional Executive Leadership School, where he was awarded the Graduate Leadership Award, which recognizes one member of each session who has demonstrated outstanding leadership abilities, exhibited a sincere desire for self-improvement, provided support and encouragement to other program participants and best represented the organization and profession.

He’s also a graduate of the West Point Leadership School.