Author: davidccouper

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.

Policing an Armed Society

In light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, police in … More

Reimagining Blue

[Editor’s Note: While I am sort of retired from commenting on the state of policing in our nation, I will, … More

Cops and Traffic Tickets

This week the New York Times published an extensive review into the governmental practice of using police traffic enforcement as … More

Must it be what it is?

[While I am mostly retired after writing this blog for the last 12 years, I occasionally am moved to share … More

The Golden Years

I have written in the past about the fantastic decade of police and overall government, educational and private sector improvement … More

What Must Be Said!

The third edition of my book, “Arrested Development” is now available on Amazon. It completes a process I began in … More