In reflecting on the work we have done throughout this course on ethical and

effective leadership, especially within the law enforcement realm, I valued one
project over others, which I have included on the Portfolio page. This was the
Organizational Leadership Journal produced May through July of 2016. Reading
through the journal, I again am able to reflect on the emergent themes contained
within this program.

One theme I took to heart is the differences between managers and leaders, and
the pros and cons to each. This lends to the effective portion of the topic at hand.
In my career, I had always looked at managers as those who needed to control
through strict rules, regulations, and maintaining everything inside the box. They
are great with numbers, quotas, and statistics, but not at the human factor. I had
always looked at leaders as those people I wanted to follow because they made
decisions based on more than just numbers or policies. They were the ones that
rode through the chaos with us, and stood beside us, come what may. What I
learned is there is a time and place for both, and that the most effective leaders can
tap into the traits of either when needed. Being effective at managing a situation is
as important as leading staff through it, and both can be accomplished by the same
person, at the same time, with leadership development and experience.

Of the leadership characteristics learned throughout this course, the concept of

compassion and empathy, as well as the ability to be impassioned and
dispassionate concurrently struck me as the utmost of important. These concepts
lend to both ethical and effective leadership. Whether working with our own
staff, or members of the community, each human being becomes who they are
through a series of events throughout their lives. Young passionate officers begin as
they do because they truly want to help make a difference in their communities.
Old, tired, salty officers get where they are because of the things they have seen,
experienced, and felt which have left a lasting impression. Developing leadership
which encourages passionate young officers, and helps them maintain their passion
throughout their careers is paramount. Leadership with compassion for officers who
have become jaded is just as important. Leadership who employs the tools
necessary to develop future leaders while redirecting and helping heal those who
have forgotten why they joined to begin with can work with both groups and elicit a
cultural change in their departments.

Just as important, those in the community who commit crimes didnt decide
overnight that this was the career path they would employ. Human beings, for the
most part, are born with the capacity to do great good or great harm. How they
develop their future selves is through the formative events in their lives. Although
some personality traits may be ingrained in DNA, the majority are developed,
nurtured and promoted, good or bad. When issues such as trauma and addiction
are added to an already fragile developmental stage, the result is not surprising.
Granted, every being has the opportunity and ability to choose their path,
sometimes there are obstacles that prevent someone from seeing or believing that
certain paths are open to them. Ethical and responsible judiciaries take this into
account and provide for reformation opportunities either presentence or post.

This brings me to another ethical and effective leadership topic; bias. Regardless of
what the biases we hold deeply ingrained in us are, they are detrimental to effective
interactions with others. Even in a culturally diverse community such as the
jurisdiction within which I live and work, bias rears its ugly head. Whether it be the
portion of the Hispanic population that was born here having preconceptions
concerning those here illegally, the black versus white conundrum, or the us versus
them mentality seen with cops and crooks, bias is the leading reason resolution
is difficult to achieve. As noted in my paper on James Comeys speech entitled Hard
Truths: Law Enforcement and Race, the measurement of a person is not in their not
having biases, that is unreasonable, but in how they deal with bias. Introspection,
and being honest with ones self, are the beginning of a persons ability to change
their own mentality.

The last topic that I feel is most important for ethical and effective law enforcement
is working together with the community- all communities- to create safe and livable
neighborhoods. In May 2015, the Final Report of the Presidents Task Force on 21 st
Century Policing was released. The authors contend that in order to effectuate
change in the relationship between agencies and the communities they serve,
agencies should promote transparency and accountability within and outside their
departments to build trust. Although this seems to be pretty straightforward, and
presumably not terribly difficult to understand, many departments still find
themselves having difficulty with these areas both internally and externally. It
appears to be cyclic- there is no trust, so there is little communication or
transparency, which leads to less trust. Holding someone accountable means we
need to communicate expectations and admit faults, both individually and
systematically. In order to admit faults, we have to trust there is a culture that
accepts faults as workable barriers that can be removed- but when trust is missing,
the natural reaction is to act like we are without fault, which only perpetuates the
issue, reduces communication, and lessens transparency.

In order to fully accomplish the mission of law enforcement in the United States,
which, although stated differently everywhere is resoundingly similar- maintain safe
communities- we need to promote a culture in each of our departments that values
honesty, integrity, communication, leadership, compassion, and servitude.
Promoting ethical and effective leadership throughout our ranks will bring us one
step further on the path toward our goals, and will foster a productive, trusting, and
mutually beneficial relationship with the communities we serve.