Can Millennial Gen Public Safety Leaders
Save the World? Or at Least Keep Us Safer?
By Gene Stephens
A new brand of public safety officer—police, fire, emergency
services, community corrections specialist—is taking to the streets
across the world. He/she is young—under 25—tech savvy, self assured,
independent but capable of working with others, impatient, and, oh yes,
absolutely certain saving the world is part of the job.
This Millennial Generation public servant had better be as good as
he/she thinks—because the job is clearly gigantic, as crime and disorder
has become a worldwide phenomenon—with danger likely to come from any
place around the globe. Traditional street crime has been joined by
international terrorism and cyber and biotech offenses coupled with
multinational battles for control of the earth’s dwindling resources on
the one hand and efforts to save the earth from destruction on the
other.
At the individual community level, this infusion of threat from
sources and places heretofore unknown, has public safety trainers
scrambling to discover how to infuse the values and skills necessary to
provide leadership in a field where an aversion to change has been a
tradition. High technology and instantaneous global communication
already have changed the public safety landscape beyond recognition from
the beginning of the 21st Century—with many in the field
unable to grasp the significance of recent events.
"Leadership in public safety agencies, particularly police
agencies, is at a critical crossroad," says Rick Michelson, 30-year
police veteran, in an article posted on the International Association of
Chiefs of Police (IACP) website. He cites early retirement by many and
the "graying" of departments as experienced Baby Boomers (born
1943-1960) and Gen Xers (1960-80) are being replaced by Gen Nexters
(1980-2000) in the ranks at a time when fewer dollars are being
allocated for training—especially for leadership. Still, there is reason
for hope, as Michelson says Nexters are competent and comfortable with
technology and are fast learners who like change and are often impatient
and bored with the status quo.
As for the education/training necessary to prepare this new
generation of leaders, a first-of-its-kind Public Safety Leadership
Summit was held in January in Columbia, SC, where representatives of
more than 20 states, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the
International Association of Chiefs of Police, plus Canada and the
United Kingdom gathered to exchange ideas and create an ongoing
organization "to promote leadership development in public safety." Many
of those attending are members of the World Future Society and its
associate group, Police Futurists International, including PFI President
Dr. Joe Shafer and Research Director Dr. Bernard "Bud" Levin.
There was general agreement among the leadership educators and
trainers (many current and former public safety leaders themselves)
attending the Summit that future leaders in the field can make us safer,
but only if the methods of identifying, developing, and supporting them
are improved and professionalized. Some worried that the aversion to
change that has permeated the field in the past could stymie the rapid
pace needed to deal with the current dilemma. Others, however, felt the
new generation of leaders will welcome change and the situations
evolving will demand change: "Traditional aversion to change will be
crushed and left in the dust as change and flexibility become
fundamental to progress and success," said Pat Bradley, Executive
Director of the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions
and President of the International Association of Directors of Law
Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST). "How else will police
respond to the mandates of preventing and responding to terrorism,
community collaboration and problem solving, calls for accountability,
diversity, rapidly evolving technology, and a new generation of
knowledge workers?" wondered Broken Arrow, OK, Police Chief Todd
Wuestewald.
"Those who will not or cannot change with the times will be left
behind."
Another major change is growing acceptance of the concept: Every
Officer Is a Leader. It is the title of a major text in the
field (Anderson et al., Trafford Publishing) and is leading to
monumental revisions in the philosophy and curriculum of leadership
development. "Leadership is a behavior, not a position"—the motto of the
Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice—describes the new thinking. Thus
even entry level officers need leadership as a component of basic
training, because, "Officers are leaders from the day they put on the
uniform; they don’t have any choice about that" (Doug Graves, Idaho
Peace Officers Standards and Training).
New technology and focus on community as the basic building block of
public safety make the line officer the direct link with the citizenry
served. "These folks have to be willing to step up and take charge,
solve problems, be proactive, devise creative solutions; that calls for
leadership," said Wuestewald, an internationally recognized expert on
the team leadership model practiced in his police agency.
"The best opportunity to identify and develop leaders is to ‘let them
lead’," Wuestewald declared. "Using leadership teams with appropriate
delegation of authority much earlier in their careers develops
leadership skills…much faster and earlier than would otherwise be the
case."
Summit speakers agreed there are many values/skills important to
leadership in the public safety field, with honest/integrity being at
the top of the list. "Good leadership starts with building good
character," Graves said: "We need to teach young men and young women
that principle-centered living is what it’s all about." "A leader is a
person who does the right thing for the right reasons at the right time,
even when no one is looking," said RCMP Sgt. Lynn Hall of the Pacific
Region Training Centre, Vancouver.
Fellow Canadian Ruth Montgomery added a need for "political acumen"
and "strategic perspective" with ability to execute decisions. Steve
Burge, Leadership Academy for Policing at Bramshill, UK, said "emotional
intelligence" and "transformational leadership style" are also
important. "Speaking, listening, researching, critical thinking,
teamwork, appreciation for diversity, holistic thinking, shared mental
models…" added FBI Academy Leadership Development Director Larry "Nick"
Nicholson. Dr. Dorothy McCoy, of the SCCJA, said being "creative and
courageous" plus "assertive rather than aggressive," are increasingly
necessary traits.
Many of the programs represented focus on the future in their
leadership development endeavors; some even teach futures research
methods and visioning. The California Command College requires each
student to produce a professional journal article on an issue that will
face public safety officials. The South Carolina Executive Leadership
program is totally futures oriented, seeking to foster proactive
approaches by anticipating and preparing for future possibilities. The
Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas Module 2
focuses on the future environment in which public safety will take place
and the need for leaders to be "trustees of the public they serve,"
according to Dr. Jim Alexander, director of the module.
There was agreement that leaders have to be more technology savvy,
more amenable to change, and ready to research options and make
decisions at a much faster pace than in the 20th Century.
Transnational crime and increasing diversity within communities will
also create change. Leadership will be demanded at all levels of
organizations and beyond—"decentralized and even outsourced"—and
recruits will need to be better educated coming on the job and then face
lifelong learning to keep up with the demands.
"Leaders will have to be more communicative with other agencies…and
modify themselves to accommodate new ideas from a new generation," said
Spears Westbrook of SCCJA, selected as Chairperson of the Summit
Leadership Consortium organized by Summit attendees. "Standards to lead
will open [public service] up to world-wide recruitment," added UK’s
Burge.
"Crime suppression will be subordinate to national security," said
Maryland’s Bradley. Twenty-first Century public safety leaders "will be
more collaborative and less authoritarian…more efficient and
service-delivery oriented…." said Oklahoma’s Wuestewald, adding
technology is driving leaders toward decisions based on intelligence,
crime analysis, and crime forecasting, and "this is in stark contrast to
policing of the past, where technology consisted of a super-charged
Plymouth Grand Fury, a .357 magnum, and an old hickory stick."
"There will be higher demand for services, more accountability to the
citizens we serve, and a changing and more diverse workforce," added
Mike Crews, Director of Professional Programs at the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement (FDLEL). Charleston (SC) Sheriff Al Cannon concluded:
"There are greater public expectations. The U.S. public accepted that
law enforcement did not have the wherewithal to prevent the 9-ll
terrorist attacks. They won’t be as accepting after the next attack."
Another major challenge will be to change the focus of leaders from
being "first responders" to being "first protectors" (Ken Morris,
Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training.
In recognition of these needs, the Summit Consortium Advisory Board
adopted a first-year plan that includes to:
(1) identify, evaluate, and
catalogue existing leadership programs;
(2) showcase leadership
development programs that were represented at the first Summit; and
(3)
explore and develop new leadership paradigms."
Chairperson Westbrook
said the organization also will seek to develop a worldwide directory of
leadership development programs and contacts as well as provide
communications networks, including a website and members’ listserv to
facilitate sharing information and research findings. The second
Leadership Summit will be held within 12 to 18 months, with a goal of
expanding membership to include other education/training programs from
around the world and refining leadership training methodology. To
establish the research component, a project involving leadership program
representatives from Florida, Texas, South Carolina, the UK, and
possibly others, was set to begin by late 2007.
Overall, most see the new generation of officers as a positive sign
for the future. "They may be out for self, but they’re better able and
ready to adapt to change. We need to empower new blood and give them an
opportunity and responsibility," Crews said, adding: "Don’t worry about
retention. If we get three years of good service—great! The new
generation’s values are not a fad. Their values are the future."
Wuestewald held "Gen X and Y employees are sharp, self-directed,
professional, educated and IT savvy, motivated, committed, versatile,
proactive crime fighters, community leaders and ‘looking to connect with
community, with organization and with coworkers’."
Thus it seems our future safety is in good hands as long as "we stay
committed to our vocation" (Bradley).
