An Interview Every Police Officer Needs to Hear

davidccouperMarch 22, 2016March 22, 2016Leadership, police

The video interview all police need to see was conducted by one of my colleagues at UW-Platteville, Dr. Patrick Solar.

Pat is a retired chief of police and now teaches in the criminal justice program. He is very sensitive to these issues. Listening to victims/”customers” is a very important part of improving, continuously, police services.

Michael Bell, a former air force pilot and father of a boy killed by police, has taken on lengthy and successful journey to change the status quo here in Wisconsin. He was instrumental in changing Wisconsin state law which now mandates an outside, independent review of police deadly force use. (See Wis. Statute 175.47.)

Unfortunately, listening to victim’s stories is very uncomfortable to those of us who deliver police services — uncomfortable, but essential.

Police need to ask themselves:

How are my listening skills?
Can I listen without getting angry?
Can I deeply understand what people who are unhappy with my work are saying?
Will I honestly take into consideration what they are recommending or asking of me?
If I am lacking in one or more of these areas, what am I willing to do to improve?

You can find out more about Michael Bell and his story HERE.

Published by davidccouper

I served over 20 years as the chief of police in Madison (WI), four years as chief of the Burnsville (MN) Police Department, and before that as a police officer in Edina (MN) and the City of Minneapolis. I hold graduate degrees from the University of Minnesota and Edgewood College in Madison. I have written many articles over my years as a police leader calling for police improvement (for example, How To Rate Your Local Police, and with my wife, Sabine, Quality Policing: The Madison Experience). After retiring from the police department, I answered a call to ministry, attended seminary, and was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church. At the present time, I serve a small church in North Lake (WI), east of Madison. Sabine and I have nine adult children, eleven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She is also a retired police officer and we both continue active lives. View all posts by davidccouper

6 Comments

Mark Bowman says:

March 22, 2016 at 10:26 am

Only the police should be capable of making a valid assessment of police performance. Guarding against organizational and professional biases should be an integral part of assessing performance. Guarding against biases may require assessors from outside that organization.

I disagree with the customer service perspective that has infused government. The perspectives of our citizens is important, because after all, it is their government. However, our oath requires service to an idea, not any person or organization. Citizen perceptions can lead us away from those ideals we pursue just as easily as they can help. Even if the majority of Americans were to believe we should profile Muslims, our oath to the Constitution dictates that we not.

I listen, but keep my eyes on the ideals we pursue.

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1. improvingpolice says:
  
  March 22, 2016 at 11:15 am
  
  Absolutely! The Constitution always (excuse the reference!) trumps public opinion.
  
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Gunther says:

March 24, 2016 at 12:06 am

To bad the Constitution doesn’t trump the upper crust’s opinion and those of many cops’ opinions.

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Gunther says:

March 24, 2016 at 12:11 am

Funny how it took a death of a white person in order to bring police reforms where if it was a minority person, nothing would have gotten done.

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