What Policing Should Be
From improvingpolice.wordpress.com - October 1, 2014 One of the exercises we used to do in training was to define something as what it is versus what it is not – an “Is/Is Not” exercise. I think we are approaching a time in which we may be losing our police; losing them to militarization, a warrior mentality, and an attitude of “them versus us.” This is dangerous in a free society. It is anathema to democracy. So, this weekend, I starting thinking about doing an “Is/Is Not” exercise with regard to what policing in a democracy should be and what it should not. POLICING IN A DEMOCRACY… IS: IS NOT: 1. One of us. 1. “Them.” 2. Community collaborating. 2. Publicly disengaged. 3. Lawful/honest. 3. Corrupt/self-serving. 4. Educated. 4. Anti-intellectual. 5. Problem-solving 5. Responding to incidents. 6. Polite/civil. 6. Discourteous/disrespectful. 7. Value-driven. 7. Subculture driven. 8. Protective/guardian. 8. Violent/warrior. 9. Helpful/compassionate. 9. Uncaring/unfeeling. 10. A noble calling. 10. Just a job. More Policing "Is/Is Nots"
From improvingpolice.wordpress.com - October 2, 2014 In keeping with yesterday's blog, "What Policing Should Be," here's two more important "is/is nots" for policing: COMMUNITY-ORIENTED POLICING . . . IS: IS NOT: Close to people Centralized Citizen’s problems Police problems Broad problem-solving Incident response “Turf” responsibility Time of day responsibility Organizational values Rules and policies Quality of life Only crime fighting Way of doing business A program QUALITY LEADERSHIP . . .
IS: IS NOT: Systems thinking Event thinking Data-based decisions Decisions by emotion Customer-oriented Self-oriented Teamwork Individual work Empowering others Restricting others Coaching Dictating Respecting others Coercing others Continuous improvement Status quo [From the Quality Leadership Workbook, Madison Police Department, 1991] |
Effective Community Policing
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