What Being a Cop and Writing this Blog Has Taught Me About the Importance of Leadership
With more than 1,600 posts and three-quarters of a million views, this blog has been my laboratory for reflection and teaching. Across years of writing, one theme recurs: leadership matters — and in policing, leadership is the difference between legitimacy and failure, between trust and fear, between democracy and authoritarian drift.
Here are the core lessons I’ve learned and taught:
1. Leadership Begins With an Oath
Policing is not about serving a mayor, a governor, or a president. It is about serving the Constitution and people. A leader’s first responsibility is to remember — and remind others — that their authority comes from the public’s consent, not from force, threat of it, or political power.
2. Trust Is the Currency of Policing
Policing cannot succeed without community trust. That trust comes not from intimidation, but from fairness, respect, and restraint. Leadership means protecting legitimacy even when it is costly or unpopular — because once trust is broken, force becomes the only tool left.
3. Courage Is More Than Physical Bravery
True leadership in policing is moral courage: the ability to say no to illegal orders, to say no to a wayward colleague, to confront injustice, and to admit mistakes. I’ve stressed again and again that the hardest part of leadership is resisting the temptation to go along even when you know something is wrong.
4. Militarization Is a Betrayal of the Mission
For decades I have warned about the dangers of outfitting police like soldiers. Leaders must resist the lure of military equipment, rhetoric, and mentality. Police are guardians, not warriors. To forget this is to turn city residents into enemies and communities into occupied territory.
5. Good Leaders Build Communities of Accountability
No leader can change culture alone. The culture of policing has both positive and negative outcomes. Know the difference. Leaders must create environments where officers are supported in doing the right thing — where listening, empathy, and service are valued. Leadership is not command-and-control; it is creating conditions in which others thrive. Create a healthy and supportive work environment. Listen.
6. Resistance Is Sometimes Leadership
Throughout my writing, I have urged police chiefs and officers alike to resist political pressure when it undermines their mission. Leadership means drawing the line — against cruelty, against racial profiling, against the erosion of due process. Leaders must know when to stand up, even at personal cost.
7. Leadership Is Service, Not Status
Titles and rank do not make leaders. Service does. I have written repeatedly that leadership is shown in how you treat people: with dignity, honesty, and fairness. Leadership is about lifting others up, helping others thrive and grow, not protecting your own position.
The Bottom Line
Over 1,600 posts have carried one central message: leadership in policing is about fidelity to people, principles, and the Constitution — not to power. When police forget this, they betray their oath. When they remember it, they become respected guardians of democracy.
👉 “Improving police in America is not a project. It is a promise — a promise to uphold our oath and protect the freedoms that make us who we are.”
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P.S. Earlier this week I had coffee with Madison’s Acting Police Chief, John Patterson. At the time, John was in the middle of a competitive process to become the city’s permanent chief of police—a position I once held for over 20 years, and a department I have carefully watched for the past thirty. I did not hire John; he came aboard a few years after I retired. But over the years I’ve seen how he has embraced and carried forward the values that have made the Madison Police Department a national leader in quality policing.
John asked to meet with me, and during our conversation he asked what I had learned in my 33-year police career. This post reflects the essence of what I shared with him.
Yesterday, John was officially appointed as Madison’s permanent Chief of Police. Congratulations, John—carry on the tradition of excellence.
And here’s what John had to say after receiving the good news: it’s quality leadership in action.
https://media.cityofmadison.com/Mediasite/Play/3b024dfcf4384502a23945b14fa9af441d
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 
Moral courage has never been condone, supported, encourage, and developed in the USA.
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