So you’ve always heard the analogy of too many chiefs and not enough Indians?
Well, what if you had a room full of police chiefs – and not much else?
That was where I found myself in late April. I was one of three city managers invited by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to join 40 police chiefs in Alexandria, Va., at a forum for midsize agencies.
Though Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams currently serves as vice chairman of the group, I wasn’t sure what to expect going into the workshop. Would it be a series of sessions entitled, “How to Capture All of Your City’s Budget” or “Top 10 Ways to Make Life Miserable for Your City Manager”? To my relief, it was not.
This was a group of police chiefs from Anchorage, Alaska, to Arlington, Texas, to Arlington County, Virginia. While the focus of the discussion was on policing, I appreciated the group’s openness by inviting other municipal officials. I’d recommend all professional workshops consider doing something similar in order to promote external ideas.
The keynote speaker was Bill Bratton, who has led six police agencies including those in New York City and Los Angeles. He had our attention.
Chief Bratton reminded the police chiefs that much of what they do harkens back to Sir Robert Peel’s Nine Principles of Policing. One principle states, “Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.” These principles were published 160 years ago.
In addition, Bratton quoted the likes of Gandhi and Jim Collins, and told the group the goals for each police organization should be the same: reduce crime, fear and disorder. He reminded us that public safety is not a cost; it’s an investment with a direct correlation to economic development.
We hear from the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce whenever a business prospect inquires about any crime stories or reports in the media. According to Bratton, “Good policing generated wealth through improving the conditions under which other organizations, public and private, operated. The private sector and the public sector simply cannot function adequately without basic levels of order and safety. Police matter – a lot.”
For example, the costs of crime on society are $9 million per murder, $240,000 for rape/sexual assault, $42,000 per robbery and $5,000 for fraud, according to a study by the National Institutes of Health.
The group impressed me. They were focused on innovating, thinking proactively, maximizing efficiencies and resources via technologies and partnerships, and mentoring new and future chiefs.
I learned the Springfield Police Department has either already implemented or is researching nearly every “best practice” idea that was raised. Not that we can’t learn from other police departments – we can. But our department appears to be out front on a lot of these issues, whether through increased technology or with programs such as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and Business Watch.
While every agency, including our PD, had endured budget reductions during the past few years, there was little whining. They were focused on moving forward and determining how to better engage neighborhoods, businesses and residents.
As city managers, we were asked early and often to comment on what we heard and offer our insights.
I encouraged the group to continue their new practice of inviting city officials outside of police departments in order to gain other perspectives. What if they invited artists, medical professionals or fire chiefs to their meetings? We each look at life through our own particular lens, filtered through our own experiences. There is value in having someone else look at our world through their lens.
Springfield City Manager Greg Burris can be reached at gburris@springfieldmo.gov.
