Police Chief Interview

[Evans, Marv]

I've never worked as a full time law enforcement officer, but have some suggestions that may or not be of use:
How would you involve the communities?
I don't know if departments still have school resource officers or not, but they are good contact points and promote a positive influence. They're also a good conduit for programs and information departments would like to get out to the youth population. Having officers attend local community meetings might be a good way to keep a department's finger on what concerns and difficulties they have.



How would you reduce crime?
I think crime is something that's also affected by the involvement and confidence local communities have in communicating with law enforcement. Although I imagine agencies try to do the best they can in this respect, identifying areas, people, and situations prone to crime situations is very important. I think law enforcement is too lax in heeding concerns of locals concerning dangerous people and possible developments. Maybe it's just the news cycle, but it seems like we all hear too many times when law enforcement was alerted and didn't follow up when they could have done a better job of checking out the situation.

How would you deal with homelessness and the issues that are created?
Again I think the law enforcement community could act as a force multiplier working with the other agencies and organizations that deal with the homeless on a regular basis. The communication and actions could be a two way street with law enforcement and those organizations working together to do what they could do together to mitigate the problems.

What are your biggest concerns that a Chief can actually impact?
As some others have said, getting the officers to interact with the public. With lots of departments running on reduced funding, it's hard. Public confidence and department integrity would seem to be the most important areas of impact to me.


What other concerns do you have?
None other than like everybody else, I want my tax dollars spent in an efficient manner. I'm retired and have an alarm system and guns. I know my comments mostly concern communication, and it shouldn't be carried to that touchy, feely point. Not having worked as a policeman in a department I don't have any good comments about staffing, budgets, expenses, etc. I too wish you the best of luck. There are a ton of guys (& some gals) on here who have minds that operate like well oiled machines. If you can get a bunch of them to give some input, it might help more.

[wildthing]

I personally would like a chief who “shall issue”, even though I’m in a big city in California.

I would like a police chief who is visible, accountable, holds himself and his officers to a high standard.

[Noah930]

Congrats, David!

Gotta run and help the kids with homework, but I'll come.back and type a better response to your original question.

[tabs]

To synthesize what has been said, to be effective the police need the trust of the community. You have to have them talk to you about their concerns and about what is going on in the hood.

I once talked to a Correction Officer who worked a Lifer yard in CA where he told the inmates exactly the score and did exactly what he said would happen. He said that he had built a good rapport and that he hoped if something big was going to go down that they would give him the heads up.

[DavidI]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Don't know the answers, those questions make my head hurt. But good luck!
I was gonna make one suggestion to reduce crime but don't want to PARF this up.

For those that don't know David, I've met him and he's a stand-up type, nice guy and straight shooter.

Much appreciated Sammy!

[DavidI]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

Hold a forum, open to the public, discussing the drug and/or homelessness problems. People want to help but lack direction believing their tax dollars will solve their civic issues. Prevention is always the best course of action.

100% agree.

Get rid of bad actors in the department. People need to know you are serious about protect and serve. No knock warrants are bad especially on the wrong house or by bad information. Shooting dogs is frowned upon by their owners and can result, like in Houston, people dying and officers being wounded.

I have personally served hundreds of search warrants and know very well how crucial it is to have the correct information to serve on the correct location. "No knock" warrants are extremely rare and my Department holds those types of warrants to an extremely high standard because of the inherent danger for everyone involved.

Shooting dogs absolutely sucks! I am a dog lover and have done everything else to avoid shooting them.

Schools are in need of common sense policing. Get your officers to teach a weapon safety, drug independence, sex trafficking and common courtesy rules for driving on public roads. Kids need to know someone actually cares about public safety.

This would be an interesting venture to bring up to the local school superintendent.

Get to know the County Sheriff and discuss criminal activity that both of you can resolve in short order. Send a message you care and things will change.

Thank you!

[DavidI]

Originally Posted by CalPersFatCat

1. Tell the council/committee that you plan to implement a "walk and talk" directive to patrol officers. Twice per shift, they will check out of service for 10 minutes at a location of their choosing. Ask that they choose a different business, park, business, school, business, street, business, apartment complex, (or a business lol) for each "walk and talk". Do not audit the walk and talk for location compliance, but do audit to make sure that the walk and talks are actually taking place. Mention audit results a few day's per week, encourage compliance without nagging and make sure to mention any successes (business owner's whom were overtly receptive).

Ask the officers to be forthright with the business owner/community member.

"Hi, I'm Officer Joe Friday, this is my partner, Officer Bill Gannon. We work this area almost every day and our department is asking that we get out of our police cars and meet the people who pay our salaries. Obviously the police can't be all things to all people, all of the time, but what can we do to help you today? This week? This month? We will do our best to stop by again next week to see how you are doing. Thanks for talking to us. Have a great night."

Great idea! I had a veteran partner when I was new on the Department and this is exactly what we did. We also parked the police car and walked through the gang infested areas and snuck up on these predators without them suspecting us.

2. Sins of the mind will not be tolerated. Sins of the heart will be dealt with case by case.

100%!

3. My officers will drive hard but will drive with courtesy and always use turn signals. Response times matter. When you call the police, the police need to come. right now. This is our pledge to the community. So Please excuse the officer whose pace is a little too brisk for your liking, who parks on the sidewalk, or who blocks your driveway for a few minutes. He's trying to cut down on the time it takes for him to get from point a to point b. Please give the officer the benefit of the doubt. We ask that the officer's obey all driving laws and always set a good example. When they fail, please remember that they are human.

This is another one of the difficulties because the officers want to arrive as soon as possible, but sometimes drive beyond their abilities. More cops are injured or killed as a result of a traffic collision than gunfire.

4. We cannot solve the "homeless problem." It is unconstitutional to use force to compel a homeless person to "leave" or to "move along." We can ask them to leave. We cannot make them leave. We can write them a citation but we cannot take them to jail. They will ignore the citation. The ignored citation will turn into a warrant. We cannot arrest them for the warrant because there is no room at the county jail. Please understand that. I will not put pressure on my officers to solve a problem for which I cannot give them the necessary tools to do the job.

This is going require some resources and critical thinking with a multi-prong solution, if there is one.

5. I promise not to use my authority to stroke my ego or to create useless task forces, additional community policing teams, school resource officers or any other unfunded drain on patrol manpower so that I have something to point to and say, "See what I did about that? I'm awesome!!!'" I will not decimate the number of officers in patrol in order to staff pogue positions just to shut up some other city department or official with the city manager's ear, council member, special interest group or whomever is the acute political emergency of the day.

I agree. Most people want to live in a place where they feel safe and can live, work and play.

I count some two dozen or more police chiefs and former police chiefs in SoCal as acquaintances and/or as friends. I do not understand how any right minded person could be interested in law enforcement. God Bless and Protect your Families.

DL

I have a feeling that you were once an executive in a law enforcement agency.

[Mike80911]

I think the best way to approach each of your questions is by being prepared through research and facts. Look at other similar cities and their approach and see how it worked out for them. Adapting different approaches from proven successes is a great way to go. I spent my last 8 years in the NYPD in supervising a community affairs unit. Developing a good relationship with the community you serve is an invaluable tool in police work. Having the support of the community makes the job a lot easier. One of the best ways I found to reach the community was starting with the young people. Showing them that police officers are human and actually there to help. We had many after school programs and in school programs that were highly successful. We used to run a Youth Police Academy for kids 10-17 where the kids would actually attend a mini police academy and learn what it means to be a police officer. We would have over 1000 kids sign up every summer. But remember this is really a political type of appointment so you also have to tell them what they want to hear.

[wdfifteen]

I've never been a police officer, but I've watched about 20 episodes of NYPD Blue in the last 10 days so, there's that.

I think one thing that addresses most of the points you brought up in the OP is to be out there interacting with the community in a pro-active way. Instead of holding events (or maybe in addition to holding your own events) have officers of all ranks involved in community events, from block parties to PTA meetings. Let residents know you are one of them.

I mention this because our local police department started having trouble when they hired officers from outside the community. They showed up in town and worked their shift and left. They had no history with the town and showed no interest in being one of us. They were resented by the locals, and got called "wardens." It only turned around when they made it a requirement that the officers live in the area.

[speeder]

Man, there is some great input from actual LEOs here that I can't touch, haven't lived the experience. That said, I minored in Criminal Justice Studies in college many years ago and we we examined policing and the penal system quite a bit. Lots of studies and lectures from actual professionals in the field, etc.

A good friend of our family was Police Chief of Minneapolis in the 1980s, (where we lived), he came from the NYPD when the city did a nationwide search for the next chief at the time. He was an interesting guy, kind of unconventional and not universally liked by the troops but I've met some Mpls. cops over the years who liked him. If a cop was dirty or brutal at all, (or supported those who were), they hated him. He had zero tolerance for what he called, "thumpers", cops who beat people while arresting them. He knew that sometimes force was justified but we all know what he was talking about. He thought that dirty cops who beat people just encouraged more crime, not the opposite.

He once told me, "cops want to thump ass holes and I won't let them, so they hate me." He was acknowledging that some of these people deserved a beating but that he believed as cops, you can't do it. Another time, (wish I could remember the exact context), that law enforcement is sometimes a "grim culture." He wrote books, taught at Johns Hopkins, was friends w Serpico, interesting guy. His name is Anthony Bouza, I just saw him at my mom's memorial last summer.

He also told me something that I knew from college; while police staffing and tactics in a community can suppress crime somewhat or move it somewhere else, crime rates are directly tied to the number of 18-25 year old males living in poverty in any given place. Once they hit age 25, the criminal activity declines to a manageable level from a policing standpoint. They don't stop but 18-25 are the nightmare years. All of the BS from politicians and activists doesn't mean a thing compared to that statistic.

[speeder]

If you haven't watched the HBO series, "The Wire", get to it! Best show ever on TV and really deals w the politics of a big city PD.

[PetrolBlueSC]

Follow Patrick Skinner on Twitter. Seriously, read his stuff.

[911 Rod]

Congrats!

Bring back the "To serve and protect" philosophy.

Do they even put that on cars anymore?

I feel the general population feels disconnected from officers.

[tevake]

Glad to hear the opportunity is coming your way David.
It great to see a fellow pelican succeed and rise to the top in his field.

Really good input above.
these are troubling times between the people and law enforcement . It's good to think of a stand up guy taking the reigns of a large department.

I wish you the best in finding means to move things in a positive direction in your community.

I was wondering if you could be seen tooling around in a Porsche sports car, but see that you now have a Panamera so no problem. ��

Cheers Richard

[Seahawk]

David - based on the heartfelt responses, be you: You come across as a very genuine person, fair and willing to be fair, which is hard.

I inserted my comments below based only on my lack of experience in law enforcement: I call these "blue sky" comments; say what is on your mind because we all know the sky is blue.

Originally Posted by DavidI

How would you involve the communities?

Sponsor youth sports across the spectrum of youth athletics... Have your officers then coach teams other than those you sponsor. No badges, just your folks. Let the kids ask what the fine people who will work for you do. Give your people incentives to coach.

How would you reduce crime?

I'd start with the book below and fan out from there.



How would you deal with homelessness and the issues that are created?

This is the most difficult problem, nearly unmanageable in my mind, that you will face. This is mostly a mental health issue: We are at or near full employment in this country so those that want to work can. You get to see and impact the rest.

I am assuming you will still be in SoCal so the issue is only compounded by your beautiful weather.

There is no Federal solution that has been proposed in the last 30 years, so you are going to need local political help. Being a hard ass on homeless issues is not the answer: soft enforcement (a version of the Fixing Broken Windows book) needs to be written. I can only admire your willingness to try.

What are your biggest concerns that a Chief can actually impact?

This is probably local to Maryland, but I f'ing can't stand LEOs that tailgate. You need to have their dash cams checked everyday for tailgating. We see your young men and women, not you, the Police Chief - make sure they reflect your values and attitude at the point of sale. Respect is earned not assumed...but you know that.

What other concerns do you have?

None. The fact that you are in a position to be considered to become a Police Chief means goodness to me. Best of luck.

[reachme]

ok from the other side. . .
encourage the officers not to post those "thin blue line" stickers with a blue line going through black stickers on their cars. I have never been in trouble with the law (ok one night when I was 15) but those symbols irritate me every time I see them. I'm not "blue" so I must be part of the lawless mass that needs to be separated. It's comes across like a gang symbol for police. I'd rather think of them as neighbors and fellow townsfolk. Even worse when it's applied to a US Flag (don't we all support the same flag?)




As far as other ideas, yes having a forum for people to let off pressure is ok but can highlight negatives and feed blowhards. As a counter come up with a positive interaction you control once a year for every 5 year age group.

Age:
10-tours of police station
15-safe driving seminar
20-have a booth at the town fair ask questions "how well do you know the law" where you ask questions everyone always gets wrong-payoff a piece of candy
25-drunk driving education or CPR
30-work with lyons club for parents to to take (bite/hair) samples of kids for parents to keep in case
35-how to properly attach car seats,
40-make sure whoever writes police blotter is fed with occasion serious crimes to remind people what happens in their town and why you are there. Otherwise they only see police buying donuts
45-Top things to protect your property
50-I'm not 50 yet. cant help you further but you get it.

I hope that helps. good luck with the process

[Eric at Pelican Parts]

Hi DavidI, good luck with your interview for Police Chief! There are lots of great responses that I agree with. Here's just a few of my thoughts off the top of my head.


Community involvement- Personally, I believe community policing is key in getting things done with great results. I would look hosting "Coffee with A Cop" if your city doesn't have it yet. Let community residents meet with police officers and just talk informally and build a stronger relationship. People would be more inclined to share their own concerns in a more relaxed environment than a town hall. My city did Coffee with A Cop quarterly for a few years, but now it's every 1-2 months.

I'm not sure if its common for cities, but our police department shares a weekly summary of incidents with us in an effort to be more transparent. Maybe this is something that could be implemented if it currently isn't.

What ever happened to the D.A.R.E programs? I don't know if they are still implemented.

I don't think that citizens really know that they can go along for ride-a-longs. It could be a great way to show citizens what officers really do to.. but it could also be risky in some situations, for example going on high speed pursuits, or responding to armed robbery cases. (I'm guessing officers are prohibited from taking most citizens on these calls though)



Reducing Crime- Burglaries are still happening frequently in my neighborhood. Cops are doing what they can, but residents need to be more involved. I'd probably look into strengthening the neighborhood watch programs and have them work closer with officers? I do notice our officers proactively patrolling the neighborhoods throughout the night.



Homelessness- I honestly don't know how to deal with this one. Many officers I know in a neighboring city are instructed to just drive the homeless out of their city. Late in the night they follow the homeless out to the edge of city limits and make sure they go elsewhere. This band-aid fix doesn't do anything but wastes resources.



Others- Maybe look into holding a Coffee & Cars type event sanctioned by the city? Automotive enthusiasts are being persecuted because of actions of reckless individuals (takeovers, street racers). At our event, police even show up to hang out and talk cars. We've actually had great dialogue open up, and officers aren't just pulling over every modified vehicle over anymore.

[techman1]

WOW! After reading the suggestions...what a great community we have here, don't you realize it!?

I can add only one thought, from a story about a local Chief. He had a yearly cookout, everybody in the community was invited. He did this, among other things, to break down a barrier of
"Us vs Them" that had developed.

Many of the suggestions above are aimed at doing just that, breaking down barriers.
It is not the LEO against bad elements in the community. It should be the community, of which the LEO is a part of, against crime.

[fintstone]

Congrats and good luck!

Mandatory Police Chief Vehicle type:

[DavidI]

Originally Posted by fintstone

Congrats and good luck!

Mandatory Police Chief Vehicle type:

Definitely the right car for a pursuit!!!