When it comes to the law enforcement executive, we all want to work for someone we respect. And in the world of upper level law enforcement management, something as simple as a management style can have a ripple effect on many levels.
Management styles can affect the way a department is perceived by the public. A good department with a great chief and command structure leads to happy officers, and happy officers interacting with the public leads to respect within the community they serve. We’ve seen this ripple effect have a negative impact on a community and its officers just as much as it can swing in the other direction.
Furthermore, when we look at incidents of large-scale dissention, we see a disconnect between administrators and rank and file officers, with the public perception of the agency and its officers usually the first casualty. Situations such as those recently played out in Ferguson, Missouri resonate in the minds of police administrators nationally, with the hope that they never have to deal with a situation with such a wide ranging negative stigma.
Keep the standards high
When we examine some of the issues in large scale incidents, it is always useful to take a look at what other police agencies and sheriff’s departments are doing to combat similar problems, both from the public perception perspective and from the administration level.
Sheriff David Gee of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in Tampa, Florida serves a community of roughly 1.1 million residents with approximately 3,500 law enforcement officers and 500 civilian staff. His hands-on management style is something that has earned him great respect within his own agency and the respect of peers in similar sized departments. When asked about his philosophy on how he keeps the crime rate in Hillsborough County low, and how he seems to be revered by officers, command staff and the public, Sheriff Gee offers a very humble explanation of how he and his staff “have managed to drop the violent crime rate in the county 15 percent each year for the last 5 years, according to published FBI statistics.”
Sheriff Gee says he demands more from both his deputies and command staff. He is a hands-on sheriff and will often show up at a district roll call, or visit one of Hillsborough County’s many specialist units unannounced. Where the sheriff differs from some, is that he “walks the talk” ... and not just on the street. He is also an FAA certified rotorcraft pilot and when the aviation unit is down a pilot or has a pilot on vacation causing a gap, the sheriff himself will arrive at the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s aviation unit, based at Tampa Executive Airport, in a flight suit ready to fly the helicopter on shift when needed.
Command staff in Hillsborough County is also held to a high standard. “One of the things I require of command staff is to join a community organization and actively participate in their initiatives to further promote the positive police-community partnership,” says Gee. He also requires his command staff to “operate from within the community” and not just be a figurehead that sits behind a desk at a roll call location. “After 38 years in law enforcement in Hillsborough County, my command staff have a good idea of what is required of them to supervise their districts and what I expect from them, as people that lead by example and look to developing the next generation of leaders,” he says.
Due to its size and amount of officers serving the community, Hillsborough County is not immune to use of force incidents. However, the agency consistently has a very low officer complaint rate and statistics that reflect well trained deputies.
Recruiting and discipline
Sheriff Gee has a tough recruitment process that tends to weed out anyone who would not fit the mold of what he expects from a deputy. The county’s academy classes usually start with 35 trainees and graduates roughly 28. The sheriff says their level of training requirements and standards do a good job in making sure that the graduating class are the next round of deputies to hit the street with a “spirit of service” approach. He says the academy even empowers deputies to take control of non law enforcement situations they may be called to—so they might try and resolve an issue for residents rather than convey an attitude that implies “that’s not my job”.
His approach to disciplinary matters has always been an open and honest dialog with the respondent in any complaint matter, with regular follow ups by investigating officers. “Sometimes the answer is not always what they want to hear, but we do our very best to remain open and transparent during investigations. We update all parties involved and in some cases the media, to ensure that we are doing our best to remain transparent and open in the eyes of the public. At the same time we look … at the root cause of the issue to make sure it is not a training failure or systematic issue that needs to be addressed and corrected,” says Gee.
Small agency considerations
When looking at the same issues at a smaller agency, these questions would seem just as easy to address, being that smaller agencies have less officers, a smaller population and less overall call volume. Chief Ed Densmore of the Johns Creek, Georgia Police Department has a unique outlook and experience that differs from long established departments like Hillsborough County that is not always the norm.
Johns Creek Police Department is situated in northern Fulton County in what would be considered the northern suburban outskirts of the Atlanta metro area. In 2007, Johns Creek became an incorporated municipality and commenced police service to the community in April of 2008 with a start up staff of 55 officers; that has now increased to 66 to accommodate for the continuing expansion of the area.
Chief Densmore says he was in the fortunate position of starting an agency from scratch, which allowed him as an administrator to source the right people, equipment, and training and form standard operating procedures for the new department from ground-up. The advantages to that, said Densmore, include the ability to invent everything from the start and take the best that other agencies have succeeded with and incorporate it into the daily operation of his department. Densmore makes time to meet with community groups regularly to discuss their concerns and address where possible. He uses that knowledge to, with the help and support of the elected representatives from the city of Johns Creek, establish programs that can assist the community. Chief Densmore says these kinds of interactions have had a positive effect on both the public perception of the department, morale of officers, and trust from the public that equates to greater cooperation and lower than average complaint rates.
Johns Creek has not had a use of force incident since 2009, when a neighborhood dispute escalated into a resident resorting to a firearm, which ended in a “suicide by cop” scenario when the offender refused to drop a weapon when commanded by officers, at which point officers were forced to fire on the suspect.
Chief Densmore looks at many things when considering potential candidates for hire. While some recent appointments to JCPD have been lateral hires from other agencies, the chief and his staff also look to hire green officers with no former law enforcement experience, some who returned from college to apply to be a police officer in the community they grew up in. The chief notes this is not only good for the agency, but good for the community. Johns Creek’s is comprised of roughly 70 to 80 percent college graduates, and while not essential, Chief Densmore tries to strike a balance of officers that are not just educated, but that are community spirited at heart and have a genuine want to help the community and apply the term “community policing” in their daily operations.
The management styles of these two agencies demonstrates the positive effect a manager’s attitude can have on the community and morale of his or her officers. This attitude undoubtedly impacts the level and nature of complaints through positive engagement of the community.
If your agency doesn’t have initiatives in place that engage the community because they are not deemed as important enough to effect crime statistics by department administrators, the only question to ask would be, why not?
