California Police Chief- Fall 2013 CPCA_2017_Spring Magazine.v3 | Page 37

UNITED AIRLINES AND POLICING— NOT THAT DIFFERENT?
By: Retired Chief Pete Dunbar, Pleasant Hill Police Department
Policing in America has taken a public hit for several years. The
officer involved shootings and uses of force displayed on TV and social
media have caused some second guessing of incidents, legislation
mandating accountability and civilian oversight. Expert analysis has
shown that in some of the cases, underlying organizational issues led
to the unnecessary outcomes that took place. No matter where the
incidents took place, most departments have felt the public outcry for
reform, including a task force formed by President Obama.
The incident in Chicago with United Airlines involving
the forcible removal of a passenger isn’t that different from
what’s happening in policing. United has a history of low
employee morale, going back to the termination of employ-
ee pension plans in 2005 when going through bankruptcy
protection. The merger with Continental never created a
merger of employees, as pilots and flight attendants work
under different rules. Policies were never updated and
training was not updated to create a single entity to move
in one direction. And the public fallout has caused a reac-
tion by United to restore public confidence and trust.
How did policing and United end up on the same
road? The common themes are leadership, accountability,
hiring and training. If law enforcement doesn’t learn from
the past and focus on these areas, it will be more difficult to
sustain trust and provide excellent service to their com-
munities. People can choose to fly on a different airline but
they have only one police department. Their dissatisfaction
can lead to unnecessary political oversight that will affect
morale, employee performance and retention.
In 2014, $14 billion was spent on leadership training
throughout the United States. But if 70% of learning takes
place in the workplace and only 10% through formal train-
ing, what policies and procedures does your department
have in place to develop le aders at every level? Are people
being held accountable for their actions and given the ap-
propriate competency training tools to perform as needed?
Research has found that effective leadership can
increase employee engagement by as much as 30%. Effec-
tive leadership means those behaviors that create a pos-
itive workforce attitude. The frequency that you engage
in effective leadership, which includes development of
subordinates, has a significant impact on the performance
and morale of your department. Yet many of the younger
workforce (often described as millennials) feel that their
leadership ambitions are not being addressed.
In a 2016 Deloitte survey of 7,700 college
educated millennials, 66% expect to leave their
current organization within five years. The
majority cite that their leadership ambitions are
not being developed and they lack a sense of
loyalty to the organization. The development of
effective leadership development programs can
have a great impact on your agency today and
in the future.
This doesn’t mean that we need to promote
younger people or we will lose them. What the survey
suggests is that no matter what position or classification
a person has in your department, they are a candidate for
leadership development. The only qualifications necessary
is the desire to develop those skills and behaviors and a
commitment by the department to be part of that process.
Such programs as mentoring, coaching, job shadowing and
acting assignments are on the job training examples that
have little fiscal costs but makes for a better department
today and tomorrow.
Many agencies are operating at less than full strength
because they cannot hire qualified candidates. We are
seeing a change in our recruitment of younger candidate
pool from ten years ago. Drug use, lack of “life” experience,
deception and psychological issues uncovered during a
background are more prevalent than in the past. Being in
law enforcement is seen as more dangerous than before
and those dangers and public sentiment towards police
discourage good candidates from even applying. We’ve got
to play a more aggressive role in developing our pipeline,
as Fairfield PD has done with their Public Safety Academy,
and many have done with cadet and Explorer programs. To
use an unpopular phrase, we have to “grow our own”.
Finally, training has to be realistic and engaging. Inter-
active training with learning activities where students learn
by doing provide the greatest opportunity for retention.
Training on department policies and procedures, often
mundane, can be developed into exercise or scenarios. By
sending someone to formal training and not having them
follow-up or discuss their experience is a missed opportu-
nity to provide training.
The CPCA Training Committee has developed a
host of classes to assist you in developing your leader-
ship skills, building a better team and improve skills in
other areas. CPCA training can greatly assist you in not
becoming a United.  ■
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