Once an organization starts on the path to continuously improve all they do, they will come to see themselves as a learning organization and then as an organization committed to helping others improve; that is, a teaching organization.
Years ago in Madison, we made such a commitment to help other police departments learn what we had learned about community and problem-solving policing, the new leadership, the peaceful handling of protest, crowds, and demonstrations by offering to host visiting delegations of police officers who were also in pursuit of excellence; that is, to become not only a learning organization, but one that teaches what they have learned. (We even hosted police from Europe.)
Our mission statement contained the following, “We are committed to… providing leadership to the police profession.”
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.
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5 Comments
Chief, I am so glad I found your page. I am a police officer and a college student currently writing my senior thesis. I am writing it over police education and training. Thank you for provided your thoughts and experience as a resource to everyone.
Hi Chief, Thanks for posting this. I am a police officer and a college student writing my senior thesis on police training. I just discovered your site. I appreciate the content you have posted.
Once an organization starts on the path to continuously improve all they do, they will come to see themselves as a learning organization and then as an organization committed to helping others improve; that is, a teaching organization.
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 
Chief, I am so glad I found your page. I am a police officer and a college student currently writing my senior thesis. I am writing it over police education and training. Thank you for provided your thoughts and experience as a resource to everyone.
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Hi Chief, Thanks for posting this. I am a police officer and a college student writing my senior thesis on police training. I just discovered your site. I appreciate the content you have posted.
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Drew, thanks for the comments. A lot more we could do with police training. Press on!
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