Police leadership and Agency Peisonnel
These kinds of meetings with policemen provide lie
incndoiis Iwo way communication. There aie many things
(hey want that are impractical, of course. Poi example, they
want longer hair, oi they may want to get lid of Iheii hats
because the cost of hair spray is so high. Wc did modify the
hair standards slightly so that ihey could wcai Iheii liaii a
littlo longer, but wc said to hell with the hair spiay when il
came to nol wearing (he hat. Wc were nol going lo have the
men or women wearing their hair so long that il impaired Ihe
proper wearing of the uniform cap. When Ihey got out on the
street at nighl on foot, wc didn't want some other policeman
shooting at llicin in the belief (hat (hey might be suspects
We also wanted (he public lo know who the officers weic,
$o Ihey wouldn't be shooting al them either. We want a
uniform and cap that stands out as a distinctive maiking
or symbol.
But al least I know now how they feel about caps and
how they feel aboul hair. And they know where I stand. That
is important. We've given them a little bit inoic hair than
they had before, although some of them arc now losing it.
They know (hal 1 am flexible to a degree. But they also know
as a result of such meetings that there are limits, and Ihey
know the reasons for those limits.
Another meeting I have regularly is with the whole langc
of working level people, including supervisors and middle
managers. Besides the lower levels, it includes Policemen
III I I, senior policemen from basic cais; sergeants fiom
different teams; investigators, also from different teams; and
lieutenants. liach of Ihe sixteen participants is from a diffcienl
districl. This meeting is extremely effective because il involves
the four lowest ranks of the department. A policeman may
>ay thai his lieutenant is doing a great job, but that the other
lieutenants in the division are not doing much of anything.
Or perhaps he wants lo complain about his lieutenant's
policies, and one of the other lieutenants in this meeting
might be able lo help him find a solution to his piohlcm.
Having llicin from diffcienl districts helps a great deal.
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Police I nndersbip mwl Acjency Personnel
Al one point, wc used to have captains at those meetings;
but a policeman once said, light in fionl of his captain,
"You've asked me a question, but you shouldn't expect me
to answer il straight, because my own captain is silting up at
the end of the table. I waul lo complain aboul the way he's
running his division, and I'm going lo do il in spite of the fact
(hat you have him here. I am going lo do thai because I
think he's ically screwing it up." Tinally, he suggested that
in the fuluie, captains should not be there. I took his suggestion, and since then I have only had the four woiking ranks
and my Ihiec assistants present. The main reason I have my
three assistants with me is to educate them on slaying in
touch with the bottom of the organization.
That pretty much takes care of the contact with people
up through the tank of lieutenant, other than actual working
situations, which arc Ihe worst lime to try to make corrections
or small talk. Police people in particular resent a boss who is
around when something is going wioug and wants lo make
some change light on the spot. The work is too important
lo do that.
We have another meeting that includes the other levels
in the department. Ihesc aie what I call vertical staff meet
rugs; they include live levels of authority: the chief of police,
one of the three- assistant chiefs, one of the bureau deputy
chiefs, iwo cnmmaudcis who have specialized responsibilities,
and each of Ihe captains in this same chain of command.
llndci team policing, of course, wc have some captains
who arc responsible for everything, but wc still have some
who are lesponsiblc for special investigations. You can look
al the live captains in the meeting, for example, and tell them
this is their chance to straighten things out. You tell them,
if they think things are screwed up in this depart merit, tell us
about it. Do you have any piobleuis? If you have a prob mii,
it can be resolved vciy easily by one of the chiefs here. One
captain might look at his watch and say, "You got enough
lime? You think we've got problems, but you probably don't
have enough lime lo match the problems we've got."   The
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