CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The renowned University of Chicago Crime Lab has launched a national Policing Leadership Academy, which founding director Roseanna Ander said is focused on a specific level of police official.
“The motivation of this leadership academy is to work with those mid-level managers,” Ander said. “In Chicag’s parlance: Commanders. In other cities, they call them ‘captain.’ But to really work with them, to help them build the skills and tools they need to be good leaders for their officers and to better serve their communities.”
With so much attention in Chicago focused on selection of the Chicago Police Department’s next superintendent, one might wonder why the focus is on commanders. Former New York City Police Chief Kenneth Corey said the top cop is crucial, but it’s the command level that carries out the policies.
“There’s a lot of development programs that are available for police chiefs, for agency heads, but really it’s that middle level — in Chicago, your district commander … where that individual is overseeing, probably, 300 officers or more,” Corey said.
The Chicago Police Department isn’t the only police force that’s participating. Departments from all over the U.S. are involved with the program.
In establishing the academy, Ander said they looked at a lot of research on what works in reducing violence.
“Decreases in gun violence without commensurate increases in arrests, and that really gave us a glimmer of what is possible — even with very modest resources — to help commanders do their jobs better,” she said. “We also looked at a bunch of other national research.
Corey stressed that they need to reach out to people in the community and have sometimes difficult conversations.
“You’ve got to listen to the people in those neighborhoods. You have got to embrace a philosophy of community policing, which recognizes that there is no cookie-cutter approach to policing, that every neighborhood has its own nuances and needs to be policed a little bit differently,” Corey said.
He added that when these participants have a “homework assignment,” it’s creating real-world plans and putting them into effect in their cities.
Better police training is the focus of WBBM’s “At Issue” program, which airs live on WBBM Newsradio at 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
Related
Related
Listen to our new podcast Looped In: Chicago
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!