“How to Rate Your Local Police,” was first put together in the early 1980s and then revised in 2015.
It is designed to be a “user’s guide” and not just for progressive police leaders, but also for civic leaders, governmental officials and concerned citizens.
It contains a “checklist” to evaluate police leadership and services.
A number of chiefs have told me over the years that they give a copy to their mayor, city manager, and city council members, especially after they have been elected or appointed to office. This is so that they can begin to understand what good policing should be.
I write “eat this book” because it needs not only to be read but digested!
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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Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 