Coaching Police Leaders In the 21st Century

SR.

Copyright © 2019 Dr. Gerald D. Green, Sr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

ISBN: 978-1-6847-0874-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6847-0873-4 (e)

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date:   12/13/2019

DEDICATION

To my Mom and Dad who instilled in me the value of hard work, to maintain high ethics and morals and the importance of treating all people, regardless of their ethnicity, with respect.

To my children: Donielle, Brandon, Autumn, and Gerald, Jr. who have kept me grounded with humility and made me a very proud father.

Finally, to the men and women in law enforcement, domestic and foreign, who dedicate and risk their lives daily in service to all of humanity.

Dr. Green presents an exceptionally compelling argument and approach to enhance the current U.S. policing system using a strategic combination of leadership, policing, and coaching. Framed within an historical context, he describes how many of the underlying challenges of contemporary policing may be attributed to its early establishment as slave patrols formed to protect the interests of whites. Coupled with confusing policy and laws on immigration, he describes how law enforcement is often caught in the middle of determining how to do their jobs most effectively.

Dr. Green uses powerful case studies to demonstrate the need for integrated coaching solutions and describes how effective coaching could improve the development and growth of law enforcement officers. This book has great potential to help the internal work environment of every law enforcement agency across the country so they may more effectively support the external communities and stakeholders they serve.

Dr. Virginia Richardson, BCC

Professor of Foresight | Healthcare | Leadership

Regent University | School of Business & Leadership

Christian Leadership to Change the World

Along with the historical perspective on policing development and practices in the U.S., Dr. Green’s book brings the now and future perspectives through developing, deploying, analyzing, and presenting his own survey to law enforcement personnel, the results of which demonstrate the value and need for adding coaching initiatives to training and mentoring for law enforcement personnel.

Reading his book was one of few, if not the only time I read a conclusion through my tears.

His book closes with the power of conviction and a call to action!

Diane M. Wiater, PhD

Adjunct Professor

Regent University, School of Business & Leadership

Christian Leadership to Change the World

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D R. GERALD D. Green is a career law enforcement officer, six as a Police Officer with the DeKalb County Georgia Police Department and over 21 years as a Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent (SA). He successfully investigated White Collar Crime, Violent Crime and Major Offenders, Terrorism, Counter Intelligence, and other priority matters. He also managed a multi-agency violent crime task force that dismantled a major violent national drug organization.

Later in his career, he was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent and was assigned to FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he was a program manager in the Criminal Investigative Division, Criminal Intelligence Unit. He was later promoted to Supervisory Senior Resident Agent and transferred to the Atlanta Field Office, Columbus Resident Agency where he formed and managed a multi-agency task force to address gangs and violence in southern Georgia.

During Dr. Green’s career, he trained local, state, and federal law enforcement personnel in the areas of Criminal Intelligence Development and Operations. He also lectured internationally to Police executives and managers in Bogota, Colombia; Lagos, Nigeria; London, England; Skopje, Macedonia; and Jakarta, Indonesia.

In 2011, after 21 years of service, Dr. Green retired from the FBI, and worked as an Independent consultant, and taught at the FBI Academy, Targeting and Data Exploitation Unit, Quantico, Virginia. In this assignment, he was a facilitator and instructor for a number of integrated targeting courses.

Dr. Green is a graduate of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and Georgia State University, Atlanta and Tifton, Georgia respectively, with degrees in Criminal Justice. He earned a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the Columbus State University, Columbus, GA, in December 2006, and in February 2019, he earned his Doctorate of Strategic Leadership from Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia. He also served honorably in the United States Army for three years.

PREFACE

T ODAY, MORE THAN any other time in our history, America’s police are in need of effective leaders and leadership teams with progressive and realistic visions for success. Almost on a daily basis, with the help of technology, we hear or read instantaneously, via social media, how some police officers violate their duty as public servants by not serving with professionalism, integrity, accountability, and the preservation of individual constitutional rights. And not only that, but we see it occur firsthand. When this happens, it paints a negative universe of police officers; police leaders find themselves in a myriad of triaged critical meetings, enhanced public scrutiny and negative media attempting to mitigate the dilemma at hand. This leaves them with little or no time dedicated to generating preemptive ideas and options to solve these problems before they happen. Police leaders need to identify creative solutions to help improve performance that starts at the top and cascades down to the rank and file. Police leaders need coaching in their arsenal.

Coaching is that necessary leadership tool to help enhance performance improvement. Coaching has been viewed by some as punitive instruction for performance improvement needs, but rather it is nonpunitive. Coaching is also not teaching, because teaching is a one‐way communication. Coaching is a two‐way communication process. The person being coached decides their own personal and organizational objectives. In other words, the person being coached (the learner) delivers their own results. In turn, the coach provides encouraging feedback which allows the learner to adjust his/her actions as needed over and over again. This process is an ongoing dedicated process which will continue until they, the coach and learner (or the team) agree they have achieved or reached the expected outcomes. It is a reciprocal relationship between the coach and learner.

Coaches have a distinct and important role, but the person being coached (the learner) is the one who creates his or her plan of action. The coach helps the learner diagnose what is going on in the problem areas of his or her organization. Through this process, the learner can find out what can be improved and how to improve it. In coaching, learners are the main players who thrive to improve their skills as much as possible by listening to reflections or advice from coaches, while coaches facilitate learner performance improvement. As a process, coaching becomes the foundation for improved performance, enriched feedback, and a culture supported by feedback flowing 360 degrees and inclusive of all personnel – direct reports, peer to peer, and then back up to management.

INTRODUCTION

Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for?¹

William J. Bennett

O N THE MORNING of September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 departed Boston’s Logan Airport headed to Los Angeles, California. Minutes into the flight, it was hijacked by terrorists: Al Qaeda operatives. The terrorists transformed the passenger plane, which was on a routine flight to Los Angeles, California into a missile. At 8:46:20 a.m., Flight 11 with its crew- the captain, first officer, nine flight attendants and 81 passengers, torpedoed under the control of evil into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. All 81 passengers and crew along with an unknown number of people in the towers were killed. A short time after Flight 11 departed, United Airlines Flight 175 also departed from Boston’s Logan Airport. Flight 175 was also headed to Los Angeles, CA. After gaining its flying altitude and speed, Flight 175 was likewise commandeered by Al Qaeda terrorists. At 9:03:11 a.m., Flight 175, under control of the terrorists, strategically struck the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The crew – captain, first officer, seven flight attendants, and 56 passengers were killed with an unknown number of people in the tower. ² Aerial live camera views of both towers and the surrounding areas revealed complete mayhem with people running for safety and away from the scene. When the planes hit the towers, a combined 24,000 gallons of jet fuel ignited a fire which spread to 100,000 tons of organic debris and 230,000 gallons of transformer, heating and diesel oils in the buildings. This set off a giant toxic plume of soot and dust from pulverized building materials, and the towers unbelievably and before our eyes, crumbled to the ground. As terrified victims ran from the towers for safety, New York City Police Officers joined New York City Fire Fighters and ran toward unknown danger and entered the towers to save lives and assist the injured without fear or concern for their own lives. Many of them perished on that fateful day. Even today, some who survived still suffer and are dying from rare forms of cancer and other illnesses which were caused as a direct result of inhaling smoke fumes in their lungs that day and in the days following. (As of the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks, 70 police officers had died from 911-related illnesses, and as of the 17th anniversary, 15 Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agents had died). ³, ⁴

Every day police officers take risks and suffer grave danger to protect the lives of others, defend civil liberties, and secure the safety of everyday citizens They endure intensely high levels of risk spontaneously and tolerate unwarranted criticisms and other inconveniences to help save the lives of others. Policing has always been at the forefront of society in ensuring order against anarchy in the United States. As part of the American Criminal Justice System, there are approximately 17,985 police agencies nationwide. These police (men and women) are the largest and unquestionably the most visible criminal justice representation citizens see on a daily basis. At any time during the day or night, on any interstate highway, street, or alley, inside of buildings checking for trouble, testifying in courtrooms, serving search warrants, or simply patrolling in neighborhoods, one is likely to encounter a police officer conducting their duties to keep the public safe. Additionally, police officers respond to service calls, enforce laws, make arrests, issue citations, and serve as role models. These men and women enforce statutory laws at the federal, state, and local levels. The job of policing requires spontaneous agility and response to a myriad of non-violent, and often, violent situations. Policing is and can become dangerously routine with periods of lull, which can sadly lead to operational security lapses, which sometimes result in an officer’s injury or death.

We are less than two decades into the 21st century, and with so much change resulting from technology, police agencies have been unable to keep up. Daily emerging technologies are making a revolutionary impact on our society; for example, smart phones are an inexorable part of our culture. While companies such as Apple are delivering one new product, their developers, engineers, and project designers are working on the next great mobile technology.⁵ The police simply can’t keep up. These technological changes have occupied police leaders and leadership teams while emerging social and community fusion have gone unnoticed, placed on the priority sideline, and not been given the attention needed by police leaders to address the continuous evolution of widespread social, cultural, and religious changes occurring in communities across this nation. In addition to technological changes, the United States has experienced a substantial onslaught of immigrant growth, both legal and illegal. Statistics show the immigrant population rose to a record 43.7 million in 2016, an increase of a half million people since 2015, 3.8 million since 2010, and 12.6 million since 2000. Coupled with immigration growth, in 2016 there were slightly more than 16.6 million children born of an immigrant parent, for a total of 60.4 million immigrants and their children in the U.S.

This demographic growth has created change. This change has affected police agencies nationwide, and they are ill prepared to handle these changes because of cultural differences, language barriers, low budget due to lack of funding, and the unique criminal behavior inherent in any ethnic group. These barriers are serious impediments