“‘Until we change, we’re going to keep revisiting these events year after year after year,’ says David Couper, former police chief of Madison. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis and the increasing demands to reform or even abolish the police, Ali Muldrow [WORT Radio] hosts a timely roundtable conversation about policing in Madison with Rev. David Couper and Judge Rev. Everett Mitchell, who is known in the community for his restorative justice work.
“Over the course of the hour, they talk about youth justice, the kind of policing Madison wants and deserves, use of deadly force, officers in schools, racism in the criminal justice system, alternatives to the current model, and more.”
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 