A police chief answers to somebody, and the people he answers to are allowed to ask hard questions about how the department runs, how the money gets spent, and whether the town is getting what it expects. That part isn’t the problem. The problem starts when the question stops being about the department and becomes…
When I’m looking at hiring a police officer, the salary is only part of what the department will spend on that person. By the time you add benefits, uniforms, equipment, academy expenses, field training, supervision, and the time other officers spend helping someone learn the job, you’ve made a considerable investment before that new officer…
When I first became a police officer in 1997, the people around me who wanted the job actually wanted to be police officers. Maybe they had wanted it since they were kids, or maybe they came to it later, but they were working toward putting on the badge and serving the public. Nowadays, I see…
When I’m looking to hire a police officer, I’m not just trying to fill an empty position. I’m deciding who I’m willing to put in a patrol car, give a badge and a gun, and trust to make decisions on behalf of the department when I’m not standing beside them. That’s a considerable amount of…
Holding somebody accountable for a standard I never made clear isn’t accountability. It’s me blaming them for something I assumed they knew. That’s an easy trap, because the longer you’ve been on the job, the more things start to feel obvious. I can look at a report and know what’s missing. I can hear about…
I’ve never had a problem with a sheriff wanting deputies he can trust. I’ve felt the same way throughout my career in both the public and private sectors. When you’re responsible for an organization, you need people who will carry out your decisions, follow your direction, and represent it professionally. That expectation doesn’t change with…
If you only see the blue lights, you’re only seeing a small part of the day in a small police department. From the outside, quiet can look like we’re sitting around waiting for something to happen. From my side of the desk, it usually means I finally have time to work on everything the last…
Sometimes I know more than I can tell you. That doesn’t mean I’m hiding something, and it doesn’t mean the department gets to say “no comment” and disappear. It means there are times when putting out everything we know would be a bad idea. Maybe two witnesses are telling us different stories. Maybe we have…