DO POLICE VALUES MATTER?
Have you watched the news lately? It’s mostly reports and videos of disturbances and protesters. What’s on the media’s mind right now is crime, violence, police shootings, related trials, and the calls for justice around the country. But this unrest is not new. This has been going on for more than three centuries. It will continue to happen unless things change. Fewer officers, less training, and reduction of resources won’t change the things that need changing. The talk of defunding the police only pushes the police further away from meaningful engagement.
If you look at the last fifty years of policing, as we have, and understand why we decided to write DO NO HARM, you’ll notice the one thing that does make a difference in policing, in business, and in our personal lives: our values. What do we hold dear, and what determines our success in life? Having and living good values—justice, integrity, honesty, courage, trust and service to others—is the way to effect change.
Nothing will make a difference in law enforcement until we change the kind of officers we recruit—hiring as much or more for values, character, and a heart for service than we hire for policing skills or previous experience. It is much easier and more effective to hire an officer who aligns with a department’s vision, mission, goals and philosophy than it is to train someone to fit.
Pair value hiring with implementing a strategic plan with goals to achieve the kind of communities we want to work and live in: safe, equal, supportive, and non-violent, and then things will change dramatically. Safe communities mean safe officers and vice-versa, two arcs moving in the same direction, not away from each other. In fact, the further away that police and communities drift, the more dangerous it becomes for both groups.
We’ve seen our strategic process work, and we think getting it out to cities and departments will enable those agencies, communities, and cities to implement the same kinds of change. Change must begin in our core values as officers, as politicians, as people, and as a nation. We’re willing to start with ourselves and our officers and trust the rest will follow. That’s true for business, it’s true for school, for life, and especially for policing where what you do today can save a life tomorrow.