567. Do the Police Have a Management Problem?

This podcast episode delves into various aspects of policing, ranging from the challenges faced by police departments to effective training programs, the need for understanding the complexities of policing, the lack of comprehension about resolving social problems like crime and recidivism, and the transformative role of Strategic Decision Support Centers (SDSCs) in revolutionizing crime prevention strategies. It also explores the Policing Leadership Academy's focus on updating traditional policing methods and emphasizes the role of collaborations between licensed clinicians and crisis intervention officers in addressing mental health crises. Ultimately, the episode underscores the importance of leadership programs in modernizing American police departments. Takeaways • Understanding the complexities of policing and implementing relevant, realistic, and rigorous training curricula is essential for effective police performance. • Research highlights the significant impact of effective management in policing, leading to improvements in public safety and reduction in police use of force. • Strategic Decision Support Centers (SDSCs) play a transformative role in crime prevention by providing real-time crime data analysis and actionable insights to officers. • The Policing Leadership Academy focuses on teaching officers tactics to reduce violence and emphasizes the importance of social network analysis and treating officers well. • Collaborative approaches, such as the co-responder model, aim to bring together clinicians and crisis intervention officers to proactively address mental health crises. • Measuring the impact of police leadership programs is challenging due to the variability in police data accuracy, but advancements in technology offer promising avenues for more effective data collection and analysis.