On Leadership

"One of the most damaging characteristics of American policing is still the turnover of its leaders. Every new mayor in most American cities begins his or her term with a new police chief. Instead of building on what has been learned from year to year, and the office of the chief of police being occupied by a professionally trained administrator, all is often lost after a municipal mayoral election. A “new broom” does sweep clean, but it also sweeps away a lot of an organization’s learning—both good and bad. If policing is ever be a profession, it will have to develop a system of sustained leadership…"

Principles of Quality Leadership

  1.  Believe in, foster and support TEAMWORK.

  2.  Be committed to the PROBLEM-SOLVING process; use it and let DATA, not emotions, drive decisions.

  3.  Seek employees INPUT before you make key decisions.

  4.  Believe that the best way to improve the quality of work or service is to ASK and LISTEN to employees who are doing the work.

  5.  Strive to develop mutual RESPECT and TRUST among employees; drive out fear.

  6.  Have a CUSTOMER orientation and focus toward employees and citizens.

  7.  Manage on the BEHAVIOR of 95% of employees and not on the 5% who cause problems.  Deal with the 5% PROMPTLY and FAIRLY.

  8.  Improve SYSTEMS and examine processes before blaming people.

  9.  Avoid "top-down," POWER-ORIENTED decision-making whenever possible.

 10.  Encourage CREATIVITY through RISK-TAKING and be tolerant of honest MISTAKES.

 11.  Be a FACILITATOR and COACH.  Develop an OPEN atmosphere that encourages providing and accepting FEEDBACK.

 12.  With teamwork, develop with employees agreed-upon GOALS and a PLAN to achieve them.

[From the Madison Police Department's "Quality Leadership Workbook" (1989) and Arrested Development: A Veteran Police Chief Sounds Off...

Did Madison Police Improve? Did Reform Measures Work?

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"What about my effort to change and improve department leadership? Did it happen? Was it effective? I needed to know the answers to these questions as well, not just from my gut, but from hard data. I decided to ask the National Institute of Justice to take a look at what we were doing and to give us some feedback to my two questions. The research contract was awarded to the Police Foundation in Washington, DC. After a three-year study, my questions were answered:
  • Job satisfaction among police employees was high.·Teamwork went on between shifts, especially in officers’ approach to problem-solving; it also included detectives and neighborhood officers.
  • The burglary rate in the community was lowered.
  • There were reduced sick leave and use of overtime.
  •   ·There was high citizen satisfaction with police services.
  •   ·A work environment was established that empowered police employees to be creative in their duties.[i]
 "The research team reported that significant change had occurred. They found that our new style of quality leadership was apparent throughout the department as well as in the experimental district. (An interesting additional finding was that even though the number of officers in the department had not increased during the research period, citizens reported seeing more police all over the city.)

"The multiyear study examined the efforts undertaken by us to create a new organizational design—both structural and managerial, built to support community- and problem-oriented policing. Significantly, researchers found the department’s attempt to bring progressive, comprehensive change to our operations was successful:

  • Employee attitudes toward work and the organization improved.
  • Physical decentralization was achieved.
  • Residents believed crime had become less of a problem.
  • Residents believed police were working to resolve issues of importance to the neighborhood.

"In the conclusion to their report they made a statement that I believe captures Madison’s twelve-year effort to improve the police function in their community:

"Surely the most dramatic finding in this project is that it is possible to 'bend granite'…[I]t is possible to change a traditional, control- oriented police organization into one in which employees become members of work teams and participants in decision-making processes... This research suggests that associated with these internal changes are external benefits for citizens, including indications of reductions in crime and reduced levels of concern about crime." 

[i]Community Policing In Madison: Quality From the Inside, Out. Technical Report, Mary Ann Wycoff and Wesley G. Skogan. Washington: Police Foundation. 1993.
LEADERSHIP
Still don’t get it?

Think about the “Golden Rule,” (do unto others as you would have them do unto you.)

Then “Servant Leadership,” (it begins with the urge to serve others above self.)

If that doesn’t work, think about this:
“As a leader of police, your number one job is the take care of and grow the men and women you are privileged to lead!”

Still don’t get it? Keep on studying or stay in the ranks — because you will harm those who will depend on you.

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“MY VISION FOR POLICE is that they can be fair, effective and humanitarian. They can protect our civil rights, work with a variety of people, and take arrested persons into custody with a minimum amount of force. This may differ quite radically from what you may think police should do… Most people don’t have a clue about police other than what they have seen on television and in the movies… 
(From Arrested Development)
"I can’t help but think that one of the ways police throughout the world will be judged in the future is how well they perform as both peacekeeper and protector. How police respond to public protest is something everyone should be concerned. The goal in a free society is to select and train police who are educated, well-trained and led, restrained in their use of force, honest, courteous to every person, and closely in touch with the community they serve."

About the book...

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PUBLIC PROTESTS CRUSHED by police officers who look and act more like robots than peacekeepers. Gassing  and pepper-spraying non-violent protesters. Racial profiling. Millions of dollars paid by cities each year to settle police misconduct cases.  What is happening to our nation's police and what can we do about it? This hard-hitting book outlines the seven steps police must take in order to improve.  You may find they apply to your workplace as well.

What others say about Arrested Development...

  • “Couper has an unrivaled track record of identifying major issues in policing.” Mike Masterson, Chief of Police, Boise, ID.
  • “Couper continually comes back to the most important asset of any police agency – its men and women… [T]he effective executive will first be a ‘servant leader’…” Greg Hestness, Chief of Police, University of Minnesota.
  • “Persuasively and passionately written, it should be in the hands of police departments and community leaders across the nation.” Kenneth Nelsen, college professor.
  • “With unusual insight, experience, solid research, Couper has produced a landmark book.” Jack Morse, Chief of Police, Harvard University (Ret.)
  • “This is a ‘must-read’ for anyone interested in learning how our police departments can achieve their true mission...” Pierce Murphy, City Ombudsman, Boise, ID.
  • “A remarkable book... clear principles of enlightened policing that could be adopted anywhere.” Bill Lueders, Investigative Journalist, Madison, WI.
  • “A call to action about the future of policing...” Tom Drury, former police officer and retired corporate executive.
  • “Informative, insightful, balanced and at times, provocative… the fascinating story of one man's journey...” James Scrivner, former police captain and insurance executive.
Find out more