If I go into this looking at it as a challenge or as a negative then that's
how it'll play out. I don't necessarily see it that way. I see it as, yes, I'm
hired from outside of the organization, but I see it as an opportunity. As
opposed to, here comes the big, bad boogeyman Outlaw coming to change what
we do. My approach really is very collaborative when I can be. Making
unilateral decisions, in areas that don't impact me directly, without seeking the
input from those doing the work--I think it's just not---
smart. I think that evolves from showing that we're introspective as an
organization, we're willing to hold ourselves accountable, we're okay with
taking criticism and negative feedback because that's what it is, it's feedback.
And, not getting defensive when someone says hey you know what you might want to
look at how you handle this. You can do this a little bit better. And over time
as people see our willingness to do that, and be open, I think it'll get better.
Because, community policing is a philosophy. It's not a thing. It's not a
checkbox that you say oh did you do community policing today at the end of
your report. That's not what it is. It's about how we engage, how we carry
ourselves, how we interact day to day, day in and day out. And it's second nature.
It's just who we are. There's work on our end to make sure that there's trust to
even do that. How are we seen as legitimate in the eyes of the community
to know that when we want to host a gathering or an event or I'm just
sliding by not to come, you know, for an enforcement action--I just want to
fellowship with you. That person on the receiving end has to know that my
intentions are genuine and true. So, I did not grow up with law enforcement in my
family. And, quite frankly, I didn't grow up with a positive image of police in my
mind. It was in high school, I had an opportunity for career exploration.
During that two-week period I got to see officers outside of their uniforms
and I was able to focus on what we had in common. And, I saw beyond that uniform.
We had something called family night in the Academy and he stood up--I was so
embarrassed--he stood up and he said you know, I don't think this is a good job
for my daughter. He said I think it's a waste of a degree and she could be doing
other things--he's going on and on and on. I'm just sinking in my seat like this--
My recruit training officers gave me grief throughout the whole time because
they remembered that, in a good way, they were joking. But you know, you never want
to give them a reason to call your name. And the one thing that I'll never forget--
when I graduated, I was assigned to the neighborhood where my dad's house was.
He's like yeah, I got these cars parked across the street from the house. I don't
think they belong here, can you come up here and do something about it? I said
okay, wait a minute. You're the guy that stood up in the Academy and told me why
this job wasn't a good job for me. Now all of a sudden you're calling me like I'm your
personal police officer. So I saw even his mentality change over time. You know,
he was proud. He was very proud. Taking a look at our policies on how we, what the
directives are. Because sometimes it's not the people. It could be how we train
or what the directives allow us to do. I'm not passing judgment or I'm not
being critical either way, because I haven't had a chance to look at that, I
haven't had the opportunity yet to do a critical review of past incidents. But I
will say that that is certainly on my radar. And I want to receive the training
myself so I know how we're training and what we're training. Whether it's, you
know, again what we do in crowd management situations, what our
commanders are being directed as far as incident command. But bottom line is that
we're here to protect people's First Amendment right to free speech.