“Unless this first step is taken, and leaders have the courage to act on what is reasonably suggested, the safety and effectiveness of our nation’s police will continue to be in peril.
My sense is that most police leaders get a high-level of support from those in their community that say they are doing just fine. “No need to change, Chief. Those ‘Black Lives Matter’ folks are racists themselves. And, by the way, where can I get one of those yard signs saying ‘We Support Our Police’?”
I worry that this unbalanced support is giving our nation’s police leaders a false sense of security and actually preventing them from moving forward and sincerely responding to this problem.
Let’s look at the facts. There can no longer be any doubt there exists a tremendous chasm of trust between police and people of color. To continue to deny this is to engage…
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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My sense is that most police leaders get a high-level of support from those in their community that say they are doing just fine. “No need to change, Chief. Those ‘Black Lives Matter’ folks are racists themselves. And, by the way, where can I get one of those yard signs saying ‘We Support Our Police’?”
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 