                        NOTABLE SPEECHES 
                     SEVEN SEEDS FOR POLICING
 
                               By 

                      David C. Couper, M.A. 
                         Retired Chief
                    Madison Police Department
                       Madison, Wisconsin


    In my over 30 years of police service, I have seen some 
changes of which I am proud, specifically, the higher education 
levels of police recruits and the larger number of women and 
minorities in police departments. At the same time, I confess 
that all I hoped for did not happen. 

    However, because I am not one to lament the past, I want to 
look ahead and think about what could be for those who choose to 
serve as police officers. My vision is to see seven seeds planted
in the field of policing-leadership, knowledge, creativity, 
problem solving, diversity, control of force, and community polic-
ing. If these seven seeds take root and grow, they can, hopefully, 
provide a vision for tomorrow's police leaders. 

The Seed of Leadership 

    The police may be the last organization in America to maintain 
the authoritarian organizational structure. We don't seem to 
understand the fear it generates among employees or realize how 
it chills creativity and initiative within the ranks. 

    Today, the best organizations in America are adopting leader-
ship styles based on Total Quality Management. This leadership 
style stresses listening to others, coaching, and fostering the 
personal growth of employees. 

    Nevertheless, many of this Nation's police leaders continue 
to wrap themselves in the protective mantle of authoritative and 
coercive leadership styles. The longer we delay this needed 
change in police departments, the more difficult it will be to 
accomplish it. Once and for all, coercion and fear must be cast 
away as leadership methods-the police officers we lead deserve no 
less.
 
    It is time to move from fear to fostering. It is time to 
stress listening, coaching, and fostering employee development 
as the three most important characteristics of a police leader. 

The Seed of Knowledge 

    As a young police officer in 1967, I became excited over the 
report released by the President's Commission on Law Enforcement 
and the Administration of Justice. The report challenged me to 
finish my college degree and attend graduate school. 

    I was convinced, as I am now, that policing could be a pro-
fession of intellectual substance with an interdisciplinary body 
of knowledge. Yet, professionalization will never happen until 
police leaders require a baccalaureate degree as an entry 
requirement. 

    It is time to move from diplomas to degrees. It is time to 
institute the bachelor's degree as the entry requirement into the 
policing profession and an advanced degree for top leadership 
positions. 

The Seed of Creativity 

    Policing chills creativity in so many ways-from our leader-
ship styles to our ongoing romance with the status quo. It is 
unfortunate, because the problems facing law enforcement and 
society today require not more of the same, but new and creative 
ways and methods of policing. 

    It is time to move from the wasteland to the heartland. It is 
time to move from being the waste-land of the status quo to being 
the center of creativity and innovation in government-its 
heartland.
 
The Seed of Problem Solving 

    For nearly a decade, police leaders have talked about 
problem-oriented policing. It is now time to "walk the talk." 

    Whether it is a noise complaint or civil disturbance, the 
police tend to focus on their response and not on their ability 
to solve or prevent the problem. A mentality of "waiting for the 
big call" infects each generation of police officers, whether 
they drive patrol cars or sit in executive offices. In turn, this 
virus makes it easier, as a society, to invest in prison cells 
rather than prevention strategies. 

    It is time to move from suppression to solution. It is time 
to understand that reacting to and suppressing problems must be 
complemented by action-by problem solving, preventive strategies, 
and moving "upstream" to work on the causes of the social 
problems that perplex us. 

The Seed of Diversity 

Most police agencies are not representative of the people they 
police. African-American and Hispanic officers have begun to 
appear in uniform on the Nation's streets, but Native Americans 
and Asians are noticeably absent. 

Women continue to struggle within agencies for acceptance as 
police officers. Few women, after their initial experiences with 
acceptance, are willing to go through it again as a police 
leader. 

Police leaders must be ever-vigilant to the dangers of racism, 
sexism, and classism in communities and especially in police 
departments. I suggest that in order to prepare for tomorrow's 
demographic trends, police leaders review the composition of the 
elementary schools in their communities and develop affirmative 
action strategies accordingly. A diverse, well-represented police 
department is a safer department for police officers and a 
community asset. The Madison Police Department has as a 
motto-"Our diversity is our strength"-and, we mean it. 

It is time to move from relatives to rainbows. It is time, once 
and for all, to create police departments that, through staffing, 
reflect the many colors of the Nation's communities, rather than 
simply the color of the majority of the population. 

The Seed of Force Control 

Police authority to use force to carry out our duties is a sacred 
trust bestowed by the people we serve. Although violence is 
endemic in society, the police should not be caught up in it. 
The police are the peace people. We need to speak out 
informatively about the causes of violence in society, such as 
violence in the media, the proliferation of handguns, and the 
legions of battered and sexually abused children in this country. 
It is time to move from muscle to mediation. It is time to 
identify what is killing children. It is time to reinforce our 
commitment to support the alternatives to violence and the use of 
deadly force only to save a human life. It is also time to speak 
to the value of every human life, whether it is threatened by a 
police bullet or the gas chamber. 

The Seed of Community Policing 

The police must get closer to the people they serve. Distance is 
danger; closer is safer. This applies whether we are keeping the 
peace during a riot or a family dispute. 

I strongly believe that the role of the police in the 21st 
century will be that of community organizer, advocate, and 
protector. The police will be the "glue" that bonds communities 
together and makes them strong. 

Community policing is the salvation for the American police. I am 
strongly convinced of this. If we choose not to do it today, or 
do it poorly, we will be short changing the officers who follow 
us and the citizens who depend on us. And, we may never have the 
opportunity again to make a real difference in the lives of the 
people of this Nation. 

In order to be straightforward about community policing with 
police officers and citizens, five things must happen in addition 
to the development of leadership, knowledge, creativity, problem 
solving, diversity, and force control. First, the police must 
move from the practical to the ethical. We are the keepers of the 
law--the "street" corner representatives of this Nation's way of 
life. 

The police must never violate the law in order to keep the law. 
The corruption in the cities or the courts is no excuse for 
corruption and dishonesty, even if it seems "practical" and 
reasonable at the time. The police should be the "ethics people" 
in government. 

Second, the police must move from occupier to organizer. We will 
never make it as an occupation force. Instead, we must work with 
and, if necessary, organize neighborhood residents to assure 
peace and order. 

Third, the police must move from controlling to caring. We must 
get rid of the "us and them" mentality that creates such enmity 
between us and the citizens we serve. The police must believe in 
the fundamental goodness of people. To lose that belief is to 
lose the soul of what police do. 

Fourth, the police must move from time to turf. We must move away 
from organizing work based on time of day rather than 
neighborhood. We need to create police officer "ownership" of a 
given area, to empower patrol officers as "mini-police chiefs" in 
every area of the community. 

Finally, the police must move from finesse to philosophy. Most 
police leaders are still talking "program" when it comes to 
community policing--another program in a long line of police 
department programs. Often, the response from street officers 
about community policing is, "Yeah, but what about next week?" 
We have trained police officers so well that they "smooth talk" 
community policing just like they have heard us do with other 
past police programs. Police leaders need to stop talking about 
community policing and just start doing it. 

Conclusion    

As I conclude my years as a police officer (25 of them as a 
police chief), I look back on luck, a police sergeant, and 
vision. For all the fool-hearted things I survived on the streets 
and within city politics, I attribute to luck. For my enthusiasm, 
health, and realistic appreciation for rank-and-file police 
officers, I owe to the police sergeant who is my wife. For the 
strong vision that I have for a better future, I owe to the grace 
of God in my life. 

Goodbye and God bless! 
 
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