Ethical and Effective Leadership
The successes and failures of a police department begin with ethical and effective leadership, which is not one dimensional. The journey is complex, dynamic, and evolutionary. A great leader is humble and kind, strong and brave, and places immense value on the opinions and ideas of his followers. University of San Diego President James Harris spoke about how to succeed in life in his inaugural address. He said, “First of all, marry well, and second is to be fortunate enough to surround yourself with capable and competent people from diverse backgrounds and experiences (Harris, 2020).” Policing in the 21st Century requires more from a leader than just being in charge. The leader must be able to adapt to the environment, political climate, needs of the department and its members, and maintain a healthy and positive relationship with their community. I have chosen four papers that demonstrate these ideas and focus on my experiences over the last 20 years in the Clovis Police Department.
In my first paper, Organizational Change Within the Clovis Police Department, I discuss the culture and organizational changes that have occurred during my employment with the Clovis Police Department. It is imperative for an organization to learn and evolve, focusing on its culture and its employees that embody that culture. Even though CPD stumbled through a few years during extreme environmental challenges, we learned and adapted from those lessons. The leadership of our administration recognized the problems and implemented change. Our culture, guiding principles, and mission statement had provided a solid operational foundation that needed to be re-focused on character and personal relationships. This evolution of our department is a direct reflection of the commitment to ethical and effective leadership by our administration through expansion, a recession, and climbing back up the hill.
From 2006-2013, for the Clovis Police Department, it was an era of unrest and turmoil within the department that was outwardly described as racial discrimination and a hostile work environment. In hindsight, it was much more than that. At the forefront of this period, among other contributing factors, was a leadership conflict. Transactional and Transformational Leadership details the ability of retired Chief Davis to change her leadership style to meet the needs of the department during a racial divide. Great leaders alter their leadership style to better serve the needs of those they lead.
One of the most effective and ethical leadership skills is communication. It is essential to communicate empathy and transparency when dealing with a crisis, especially one as sensitive as an officer-involved shooting. Community support relies on the integrity of the police department, which is the responsibility of every officer, including the Chief. Crisis Communication is a case study surrounding the communication strategy of retired Clovis Police Chief Basgall with the public after an officer-involved shooting. This paper showcases the results of a long-term investment in the community by the police department and a commitment to remain transparent and ethical in all aspects of our duties.
Building on the importance of communication as an effective and ethical leadership component, Community Town Hall Meeting Memo is a hypothetical scenario very similar to the circumstances of the previous paper. In this scenario, a black male was shot by a white police officer, and the community demands a meeting. This memo to Chief Fleming highlights the importance of active listening skills and provides a roadmap for a successful meeting with an oppositional and emotional group.
“Organizations pay a heavy price for ineffective, incompetent, or unethical leadership (Nahavandi, 2015).” Adverse effects include low morale among employees, challenging behaviors, persistent conflict, and a loss of trust with the community. Ethical and effective leadership is the backbone of a successful police department.
In my first paper, Organizational Change Within the Clovis Police Department, I discuss the culture and organizational changes that have occurred during my employment with the Clovis Police Department. It is imperative for an organization to learn and evolve, focusing on its culture and its employees that embody that culture. Even though CPD stumbled through a few years during extreme environmental challenges, we learned and adapted from those lessons. The leadership of our administration recognized the problems and implemented change. Our culture, guiding principles, and mission statement had provided a solid operational foundation that needed to be re-focused on character and personal relationships. This evolution of our department is a direct reflection of the commitment to ethical and effective leadership by our administration through expansion, a recession, and climbing back up the hill.
From 2006-2013, for the Clovis Police Department, it was an era of unrest and turmoil within the department that was outwardly described as racial discrimination and a hostile work environment. In hindsight, it was much more than that. At the forefront of this period, among other contributing factors, was a leadership conflict. Transactional and Transformational Leadership details the ability of retired Chief Davis to change her leadership style to meet the needs of the department during a racial divide. Great leaders alter their leadership style to better serve the needs of those they lead.
One of the most effective and ethical leadership skills is communication. It is essential to communicate empathy and transparency when dealing with a crisis, especially one as sensitive as an officer-involved shooting. Community support relies on the integrity of the police department, which is the responsibility of every officer, including the Chief. Crisis Communication is a case study surrounding the communication strategy of retired Clovis Police Chief Basgall with the public after an officer-involved shooting. This paper showcases the results of a long-term investment in the community by the police department and a commitment to remain transparent and ethical in all aspects of our duties.
Building on the importance of communication as an effective and ethical leadership component, Community Town Hall Meeting Memo is a hypothetical scenario very similar to the circumstances of the previous paper. In this scenario, a black male was shot by a white police officer, and the community demands a meeting. This memo to Chief Fleming highlights the importance of active listening skills and provides a roadmap for a successful meeting with an oppositional and emotional group.
“Organizations pay a heavy price for ineffective, incompetent, or unethical leadership (Nahavandi, 2015).” Adverse effects include low morale among employees, challenging behaviors, persistent conflict, and a loss of trust with the community. Ethical and effective leadership is the backbone of a successful police department.
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Chief Fleming Demonstrates Transparency
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DEVELOPING LAW ENFORCEMENT AND PUBLIC SAFETY KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
CPD Hosts Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Breakfast
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CPD's Largest Community Event
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Crisis Negotiations Training
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Watching the news and social media right now is terrifying for most, but it is a daunting reality for law enforcement professionals all over the world. One devastating act of poor judgment by a few has changed the world of policing as we know it. Communities are arguing over reform, defunding, or support of police and as volatile as it is right now, there is no room for conversation and collaboration towards positive reform. It takes a unique set of skills for law enforcement leaders to possess in the face of rapidly changing dynamics and events. These leaders must be able to apply new strategies to fight crime that include analytics, predictive policing, community-based policing, technology advancements, crisis intervention, enhanced communication skills, and officer wellness.
My first paper, Report to the Community, is a report about how the City of Clovis is performing in these areas. When President Barack Obama was in office, he saw a crucial need to repair the trust between the community and local law enforcement agencies, following significant displays of public unrest resulting from several high-profile incidents. He established the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which set six guidelines or pillars of recommendations for law enforcement to follow (President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 2015). This report details the ongoing commitment by the Clovis Police Department to follow the recommendations and guidelines outlined in these six pillars. This report discusses in detail the expectations for improvement and the Clovis Police Department's commitment to excellence in these areas.
Policing in the 21st Century is different. There are so many advancements in technology used by the criminals; it is imperative for us to be just as efficient so we can fight back. In my paper, Intelligence-Led Policing in the Clovis Police Department, I take a look at how the Clovis Police Department has been successful using these techniques. Intelligence-led policing is a combined strategy that uses crime data analysis to deploy resources where they are most needed to prevent crime while working with the community. It is about community partnerships, information sharing, data analysis, strategic and proactive policing, and the most effective use of valuable resources.
None of these ideas would be successful without effective communication, which includes communication with the public and within our own department. Officers and law enforcement leaders have made significant improvements over the years in this area. Convincing Jim is a memo detailing my strategy to change the opinion of another member of administration in a hypothetical scenario not much different than the current events that have unfolded in the last few weeks. The focus is on strategies for successful conflict resolution suggested by Cloke & Goldsmith in their book, Resolving conflicts at work: Ten strategies for everyone on the job. My paper, Law Enforcement Communication with People in Crisis, discusses the changing dynamics of police contacts and the community's demand for de-escalation. Through community partnerships with organizations like NAMI, CIT programs, and more advanced training for officers in de-escalation techniques, we can improve in the area that has the most effective influence for a positive outcome when engaging with people in crisis: communication.
Law enforcement leaders must develop their officers to be humble warriors and guardians in the face of drastic change. The 21st Century demands the use of technology, training, resources, and communication in creative ways to fight crime and maintain public safety.
My first paper, Report to the Community, is a report about how the City of Clovis is performing in these areas. When President Barack Obama was in office, he saw a crucial need to repair the trust between the community and local law enforcement agencies, following significant displays of public unrest resulting from several high-profile incidents. He established the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which set six guidelines or pillars of recommendations for law enforcement to follow (President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 2015). This report details the ongoing commitment by the Clovis Police Department to follow the recommendations and guidelines outlined in these six pillars. This report discusses in detail the expectations for improvement and the Clovis Police Department's commitment to excellence in these areas.
Policing in the 21st Century is different. There are so many advancements in technology used by the criminals; it is imperative for us to be just as efficient so we can fight back. In my paper, Intelligence-Led Policing in the Clovis Police Department, I take a look at how the Clovis Police Department has been successful using these techniques. Intelligence-led policing is a combined strategy that uses crime data analysis to deploy resources where they are most needed to prevent crime while working with the community. It is about community partnerships, information sharing, data analysis, strategic and proactive policing, and the most effective use of valuable resources.
None of these ideas would be successful without effective communication, which includes communication with the public and within our own department. Officers and law enforcement leaders have made significant improvements over the years in this area. Convincing Jim is a memo detailing my strategy to change the opinion of another member of administration in a hypothetical scenario not much different than the current events that have unfolded in the last few weeks. The focus is on strategies for successful conflict resolution suggested by Cloke & Goldsmith in their book, Resolving conflicts at work: Ten strategies for everyone on the job. My paper, Law Enforcement Communication with People in Crisis, discusses the changing dynamics of police contacts and the community's demand for de-escalation. Through community partnerships with organizations like NAMI, CIT programs, and more advanced training for officers in de-escalation techniques, we can improve in the area that has the most effective influence for a positive outcome when engaging with people in crisis: communication.
Law enforcement leaders must develop their officers to be humble warriors and guardians in the face of drastic change. The 21st Century demands the use of technology, training, resources, and communication in creative ways to fight crime and maintain public safety.
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INSTITUTIONAL ASSESSMENT AND CHANGE
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The effective management of a police department is multi-faceted. It requires the successful implementation and execution of a budget, knowledge of current events and trends, newly decided case law, hiring quality employees, and the ability to look inward and make substantial changes. Institutional assessment and change are absolutely imperative for law enforcement organizations to serve their communities ethically and effectively. It's the ability to use data-driven analysis and intelligence-led policing ideas to increase outcomes and public safety.
During the LEPSL program, I was challenged to do exactly that. I researched the history of our crime rates, assessed critical issues plaguing our community, and addressed the need for technological advancements to assist in lengthy investigations. In my first paper, Crime Dynamics in the City of Clovis, I discuss the crime rate changes over a period of time, and factors such as incarceration, policing, and cultural change that had an equal impact in the City of Clovis. During my 20 years with the Clovis Police Department, I have witnessed incredible economic growth, significant declines due to the housing market crash, a slow but steady rise to economic prosperity again, followed by a global pandemic affecting the world right now. All of these factors have influenced the crime rate, which has still declined since the 1980s. My conclusion is that ordinary people, which includes the police, lawmakers, and the community, acted together to make changes after living through unbearable levels of violence and crime in the 1980s and early 1990s. Through economic growth and more opportunities, communities helped each other to take back their neighborhoods. Creative and strategic policing focused on specific community needs, “hot spots,” and allocating resources more efficiently. Clovis has experienced an increase and a similar decline in crime rates as the rest of the nation. A common saying in reference to raising children is that “it takes a village.” We are all a part of that village and the solution. Technology Advancement is a proposal to invest in computer software programs to assist in the daily functions of the police department. The concept behind Artificial Intelligence programs is called machine learning. The Clovis Police Department has over 450 CCTV cameras that we are already using. The addition of AI software will significantly decrease the man-hours of analysis and enable us to use our time and resources more efficiently. I also propose using the software to reduce the time spent redacting information from police reports and other public records and conclude with a suggestion to expand this technology into a system like the NYPD, to help identify problem areas in an effort to direct officers where they are needed most. In the LEPSL 500 course, Issues in Law Enforcement, we examined six critical issues that have had a significant effect on law enforcement, and continue to do so. We considered incarceration levels, drug policies, law enforcement perception and race relations, current crime trends, use of force, and mindfulness. While researching and studying these critical issues, a recurring theme stood out as a significant factor embedded within all of these other issues; homelessness. The Next Critical Issue was written as an assessment of what the County of Fresno and the City of Clovis are doing now, and will do in the future, to make a positive change. A police department will fail to improve itself and the quality of life for its residents if the administration does not continually look inward and begin those steps from within. Technology advancements, research, history, policy analysis, and leadership are valuable tools for institutional assessment and change. |
City-Wide CCTV Cameras
City of Clovis 8 Patrol Beats
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CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING OF MODERN CRIMINOLOGY
AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUES
Law enforcement professionals are always under scrutiny by the public, but in the last few months, our image has dramatically changed. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were hailed as heroes. Still, the tragic death of George Floyd changed that opinion so drastically that today, we find ourselves public enemy number one facing issues I never imagined possible. The program learning outcomes (PLOs) of the University of San Diego’s masters degree focus on ethics, leadership, institutional assessment and change, 21st-century skills, and a critical understanding of modern criminology and criminal justice issues. This PLO gave me a new perspective on the changes in case law and how it affects our procedures, new technology implementation, communication strategies, use of force reform, and budget concerns. If law enforcement leaders understand the dynamics that surround contemporary criminal justice issues, they are better equipped to lead their department successfully through them.
I chose two papers that demonstrate modern technology, privacy issues, and the case law surrounding them as examples of current law enforcement challenges. The first paper, Super Body-Worn Camera Memo, is a memo written to my Chief about a hypothetical situation involving the beta testing and the use of super body-worn cameras (SBWC). My position argues that the public supports law enforcement’s use of technology as a tool to solve crimes, but privacy and security protections are critical to public confidence in their use. The SWBC collects biometric data from everyone, including consensual contacts and victims, and stores them in a secret database. While I support technology advancements, the SWBC oversteps citizen’s right to privacy, violates current case law, and I do not believe it would be advantageous for a police department to use this technology.
Analysis and Interpretation of the Fourth Amendment are crucial to the policy and procedures of law enforcement. Protection from unreasonable searches by the government and the right to privacy is paramount in our society, and we must uphold these rights. The 2018 US Supreme Court case Carpenter v. United States addressed these issues concerning cell site location information (CLSI) and the third-party doctrine. In Third-Party Doctrine and CSLI Analysis, the task was to defend my opinion about this decision. I was one of the few students in my class who disagreed with this decision. Ultimately, law enforcement is bound by these decisions, and a critical understanding of how to apply them can make a difference in successful prosecution or the subject of a civil rights lawsuit.
I wrote 2019 National Law Enforcement Use of Force Committee Recommendations in February of last year. It was my fifth paper in this program, and the topic is even more relevant now than it was then. In this paper, I was on a hypothetical use of force committee, which was established to determine if the reasonableness standard established in Graham v. Connor should be the only deciding factor in use-of-force incidents or if it is time for a change. Human life is precious, regardless of who it is. The aftermath of recent events has proven that this can’t be the only standard to judge use-of-force by. In this paper, I recommend a foundation that relies on the reasonableness standard but adds updated training, policy reform, open communication, and support from the community.
The final example of how current events affect law enforcement leadership is through its budget. Revised Budget Proposal takes a look at how a department would modify its budget with challenges such as attrition, hiring difficulties, and the implementation of a specialized unit to focus on homelessness. My department, and law enforcement agencies across the nation are facing these exact challenges right now. Budget modification takes creativity, attention to detail, and flexibility to successfully allocate the proper amount of resources while staying true to the department's mission and completion of the desired goals.
Modern criminal justice issues affect every aspect of law enforcement. It is imperative for leaders to be informed, make ethical decisions, and be prepared for drastic changes. Between case law decisions, advanced technology, privacy concerns, use of force reform, budget, and hiring challenges, it is difficult to be anything more than reactionary. Today, we are being challenged by citizens who oppose law enforcement and want to defund us. Current events have led us here. But we are armed with knowledge, ethics, and integrity to do the right thing. If we follow these guiding principles, we will be proactive in the pursuit of our mission to protect and serve. Difficult isn’t impossible.
I chose two papers that demonstrate modern technology, privacy issues, and the case law surrounding them as examples of current law enforcement challenges. The first paper, Super Body-Worn Camera Memo, is a memo written to my Chief about a hypothetical situation involving the beta testing and the use of super body-worn cameras (SBWC). My position argues that the public supports law enforcement’s use of technology as a tool to solve crimes, but privacy and security protections are critical to public confidence in their use. The SWBC collects biometric data from everyone, including consensual contacts and victims, and stores them in a secret database. While I support technology advancements, the SWBC oversteps citizen’s right to privacy, violates current case law, and I do not believe it would be advantageous for a police department to use this technology.
Analysis and Interpretation of the Fourth Amendment are crucial to the policy and procedures of law enforcement. Protection from unreasonable searches by the government and the right to privacy is paramount in our society, and we must uphold these rights. The 2018 US Supreme Court case Carpenter v. United States addressed these issues concerning cell site location information (CLSI) and the third-party doctrine. In Third-Party Doctrine and CSLI Analysis, the task was to defend my opinion about this decision. I was one of the few students in my class who disagreed with this decision. Ultimately, law enforcement is bound by these decisions, and a critical understanding of how to apply them can make a difference in successful prosecution or the subject of a civil rights lawsuit.
I wrote 2019 National Law Enforcement Use of Force Committee Recommendations in February of last year. It was my fifth paper in this program, and the topic is even more relevant now than it was then. In this paper, I was on a hypothetical use of force committee, which was established to determine if the reasonableness standard established in Graham v. Connor should be the only deciding factor in use-of-force incidents or if it is time for a change. Human life is precious, regardless of who it is. The aftermath of recent events has proven that this can’t be the only standard to judge use-of-force by. In this paper, I recommend a foundation that relies on the reasonableness standard but adds updated training, policy reform, open communication, and support from the community.
The final example of how current events affect law enforcement leadership is through its budget. Revised Budget Proposal takes a look at how a department would modify its budget with challenges such as attrition, hiring difficulties, and the implementation of a specialized unit to focus on homelessness. My department, and law enforcement agencies across the nation are facing these exact challenges right now. Budget modification takes creativity, attention to detail, and flexibility to successfully allocate the proper amount of resources while staying true to the department's mission and completion of the desired goals.
Modern criminal justice issues affect every aspect of law enforcement. It is imperative for leaders to be informed, make ethical decisions, and be prepared for drastic changes. Between case law decisions, advanced technology, privacy concerns, use of force reform, budget, and hiring challenges, it is difficult to be anything more than reactionary. Today, we are being challenged by citizens who oppose law enforcement and want to defund us. Current events have led us here. But we are armed with knowledge, ethics, and integrity to do the right thing. If we follow these guiding principles, we will be proactive in the pursuit of our mission to protect and serve. Difficult isn’t impossible.
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All Officers Wear Body-Worn Cameras
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Bomb Technician at Work
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Recruitment Booth at Event Center
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I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget the way you made them feel.
~ Maya Angelou |