— Observations and experience of a veteran police chief from a 33-year career. — Studying and reflecting on the nature…
Model Use of Force Policy
Rethinking the Rules of Engagement: Moving Beyond Graham v. Connor The legal baseline for police use of force in the…
Moving Past Graham v. Connor: Who is Raising the Bar?
The Stanford Law School Model Use of Force Policy explicitly addresses the core limitation of Graham v. Connor (1989): that Graham establishes only the constitutional baseline of “objective reasonableness“—a…
What Has Happened to Once Good Police Departments?
The Gap Between Policy and Practice in American Policing A working paper The Paradox A department can do almost everything…
Learning Hard Lessons
Gaining Deeper Perspectives on Culture, Systems, and Change The first of my “Hard Lessons” occurred during the Deming-influenced quality improvement…
The Fatal Flaw in Modern Police Reform
Why Graham Keeps American Police Stuck! Across the country, progressive municipal police departments pride themselves on progressive transformation. They invest…
How Police in America Got Hijacked
From Guardians to Warriors: How 9/11 Changed American Policing — and Why It Hasn’t Stopped I took my first oath…
Building an Effective Strategy and Coalition
IF EUROPE’S POLICE CAN, WHY CAN’T WE? A Systems-Thinking Case for Improving Police Use of Deadly Force [Executive Summary: Constitutional baselines…
“I Was Only Following Orders”: The Most Dangerous Words in a Democracy
In a recent talk, “I Was Only Following Orders: The Line Between Duty and Conscience,” I challenged the dangerous notion…
We’re a 2026 Top Cop Blog!
I am pleased to share some wonderful news with you. Recently, this blog has been selected as one of the…
The Active Fight is Over. Moving to Reserve Duty
Active Reserve Duty I have fought a long, hard fight for nearly three-quarters of a century. It is now time…
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 