With recent incidents like the ones in Ferguson and Baltimore, the issue of police training and leadership has come under the spotlight. Police commissioners and chiefs have either been fired or forced to resign due to some of these incidents. But police leadership may not be solely responsible for the practices and policies employed by cops on the street.
Some say police unions are necessary to ensure the fair treatment of officers in a line of work that routinely requires them to face dangerous and even life-threatening situations. Others make the case that police unions attempt to exert their own influence on law enforcement, wresting control away from police management who might be better suited to call the shots.
This hour, we talk about police training, leadership, and community engagement. We ask why the instruction cops get at the academy seldom lines up with the experience they have on the job. We also look at the difference between community attitudes towards policing, and police officers’ attitude towards the community they serve.
GUESTS:
- John DeCarlo - Former Branford Police chief and now Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of New Haven, and co-author of Labor Unions, Management Innovation and Organizational Change in Police Departments
- Dr. Michael Jenkins - Assistant Professor in Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Criminology at The University of Scranton, and co-author of Labor Unions, Management Innovation and Organizational Change in Police Departments
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John Dankosky, Lydia Brown, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
