Blue Canary: For Cops By a Cop

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I am blessed with friends.

I am blessed to have neighbors that rushed to my home to make sure that we were safe. I am blessed that I have people who will be there for me and my family in the darkest moments. I am blessed that I have friends who will reach out and provide moral and actual support when needed. I am blessed that I have met some amazing people over my career and they will take the time to chat with me on this podcast and I am blessed that people like you take the time to listen.

This is a heartfelt thank you to all of my friends out there, for everything they have done and will continue to do. I can never truly repay you with anything but my own friendship. I love all of you very much.

I hope you have enjoyed Season 5 of Blue Canary. As usual we are going to take a couple of months off and start planning for next year. If you have enjoyed Blue Canary please do me a favor and rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform. We are also now on YouTube so make sure you like and subscribe not just on your podcast app, but also on YouTube so that we can continue to help you tell your stories. And finally, like and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.

We will be back in the spring with Season 6 of Blue Canary. What are we going to focus on for next season, well you will just have to subscribe to find out.

And remember, take a few minutes to make friends. They are everything.

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Jared Altic is a police chaplain in Kansas City, focusing his work in the patrol divisions of the Kansas City Kansas Police Department (KCKPD). He attends roll calls, goes on ride alongs, teaches at the police academy, and responds to homicides, suicides, and accidents in the city. Jared's passion is encouraging officer wellness among cops, which he also does through his podcast, Hey Chaplain.

I had the pleasure to talk with Jared about informal leadership and his role as a chaplain.

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Welcome to our annual Halloween Episode. These stories have been told to me by officers around the country and they swear they are true stories. Thanks to Parker for this one.

Happy Halloween.

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In the United States there are 3,116 local jails, 1,566 State Prisons, and 98 Federal Prisons. But let’s not forget the 1,323 Juvenile Corrections Facilities, 142 Immigration detention facilities, and 80 Tribal jails. These facilities house a little over 1.2 million prisoners.

These facilities are staffed with approximately 393,000 corrections officers.

At first glance that might seem like a lot.

A lot of facilities,

A lot of prisoners, 

A lot of jailers,

But it isn’t.

Let’s take a look at crime for a minute. The causes of crime have been studied for decades, and while some of the results may fly in the face of what we have been told over the years, facts are facts. For example, poverty does not cause crime, and the number one way to lower crime is through incarceration. You want your neighborhood to be safe. Easy, lock up the criminals. Consequences matter and holding people accountable for their actions has proven time and time again to be an effective deterrent.

Studies also show that 1 percent of the population commit over 60 percent of crime in America. Today there are a little over 1.2 million prisoners accounting for .36 percent of the US population. I would also argue that statistically we are living in a period of very high crime rates.

In 2008 the US prison population peaked at almost 2.5 million prisoners and you wanna know what else happened. Our crime rates were at a historic low.

Don’t believe me look it up.

There are around 800,000 police officers in the US today and they seem to garner most of the attention. They get most of the praise, the complaints, the glory, and the training … what little there is of that.

But what about those 393,000 corrections officers. They seem to be left behind when it comes to the praise, glory, and specifically training.

We refuse to do that.

[Insert Intro]

Jeff Carter retired in December of 2018 as the Deputy Director of the Fayette County Detention Center in Lexington, Kentucky. Over his 20-year career, he has worked all levels of custody inside a 1,300-bed correctional facility located in the horse racing capitol of the world. Jeff was an instructor for 5 years inside the academy, where he trained over 700 recruits, molding them into successful leaders in the Corrections field. While promoting through the ranks, he commanded the Professional Standards Unit where he specialized in Internal Affairs investigations and Gang Intel for 7 years.

I asked Jeff to talk about leadership, specifically in the jail system, but most of his advice is relevant no matter where you work.

[Insert Interview]

And that’s the story we have to tell.

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Chief of Police is a title typically given to the head of a police department, but that simple definition gets very confusing very quickly. Sheriffs are the name we give to elected officials who preside over county law enforcement in the US, while Chief’s of Police typically preside over municipal police agencies.

Sometimes Chief’s are elected. Sometimes they are appointed by a mayor or city council. Sometimes they are selected through the civil service act. Sometimes they are not called Chief’s of Police at all.

Police Commissioners are another term, frequently found in the larger metropolitan areas 

Chief,

When we talk about the police chief’s we are talking about the head of a municipal police department not affiliated with the local sheriff’s office.

What do chief’s do?

Sorry to make you laugh, it wasn’t a trick question.

Chiefs of police are typically responsible for operational oversight, budgeting, planning, discipline, direction, regulations, communications, and in smaller agencies general police work. All at the behest of a governing body, either mayor or city council.

It’s not an easy job.

I rose to the highest levels of administration in my police department. I was third in charge, so while I didn’t ever actually do the job, I did learn one thing.

You can’t pay me enough to do it.

[Insert Intro]

George Sippert spent 32 years serving the people of Flint Township Michigan. Flint township is located on the west side of the city of Flint Michigan. He took over as chief of police in 2004 an served until 2018. Throughout his career, Sippert also served in various roles including: Field Training Officer, Firearms instructor, School Resource Officer, Community Policing Division Commander and Motorcycle Unit Commander.

He is also a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy, a member of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, Genesee County Chiefs Association, Central Michigan Chiefs Association, Genesee County 911 Advisory Board and the Flint Area Narcotics Group Advisory Board.

I have had the pleasure of knowing and speaking with George on a number occasions and I couldn’t think of anyone better to discuss the role of the police chief.

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Note: This was an extremely difficult episode for me to record. I want to apologize for the audio. It was the best I could do.

72 officers had to die.

I refuse to let that sacrifice go unremembered.

This one is for you,

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Ethics in Leadership

It’s an interesting topic and at times can be very controversial. Peter Drucker was an Austrian American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of modern management theory. He famously said “The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers”

This statement has led to some interesting classroom discussions as well as arguments about leaders. In my courses I typically lead with a few definitions of leadership and then ask the class a question. I ask them to give me a list of “Good Leaders.” What follows is an interesting take on leadership. We will typically start with George Washington, Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, and then the class will typically throw in George Patton, Bear Bryant, and then a modern president. Which president however is based on where the class is being taught. This is where the arguments start.

Leaving the list of “Good Leaders” on the board I ask the class for a list of “Bad Leaders.” This list starts with Adolf Hitler, followed by Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot. Jim Jones and David Koresh are added as the classes input starts to wind down. And then someone will throw out the name of the same modern president that was on the “Good List.”

Defining leadership as “someone who has followers” might be accurate from a technical point, but it fails to address what I believe is one of the major elements of leadership. Ethics. Those leaders in the “bad List” are leaders, they moved countries, cultures, and peoples to do some truly horrific things, but I could never look at them as leaders because to me ethical leadership is the most important element.

I believe that ethical leaders can lead anyone, but unethical leaders only lead unethical people, the rest they will drag along against their will.

Let’s take a look at ethics, morals and ethical leadership. 

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Commander Bob Meader retired from the Columbus Ohio Police Department in February of 2022. During his tenure at Columbus PD, he served in patrol, street attack unit, property crimes, legal and training. He retired as the commander of the Columbus PD Police Academy. While working Commander Meader managed to get his law degree and today spends his retirement training Ohio police officers on issues regarding the law in Ohio.

I had the pleasure to talk with Bob about legal issues pertaining to training, administration, and de-escalation.

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Leading Up

General William T. Sherman once said "We have good corporals and good sergeants and some good lieutenants and captains, and those are far more important than good generals."

Sherman recognized the importance of leading up.

What is leading up? It’s providing leadership in an organization from a position of lower authority. It’s understanding the role played by various members of an organization and how to properly and effective work within that organization.

This is more commonly referred to as Followership.

Followership at its core is the individual’s willingness to go along with a leader. There willingness to follow. But it is much more than that.

We put tremendous emphasis on leadership. Hell, my entire season 5 is focusing on leadership, but we often forget the importance of the follower. Without followers there are no leaders.

It is said that all leaders are followers, but not all followers are leaders. And that is an interesting thought. The concept behind this is that to be a successful leader, you must know how to follow. Taking that a step further you must realize that every leader has a boss. For example, in the public safety realm, every sergeant must report to a lieutenant. Every lieutenant reports to a captain. Every Chief of Police Reports to a Mayor or City Council and every Sheriff reports to the electorate.

Everybody has a boss.

Being a good follower will provide you with the skills necessary to help you be a good leader.

Now let’s look at the second part of that saying…not all followers are leaders.

Another true statement. Some people are simply not cut out for leadership. They are not wired that way. They can be good followers, but refuse to accept some of the basic principles of leadership. Most people don’t start out as leaders, they start out as followers but as they learn to be good followers they start learning the skills necessary to be leaders and grow.

There are several essential qualities to an exemplary follower and we should always be looking to improve in these areas. Lets take a quick look at those essential qualities.

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Sheriff, a word, and position that derive from the old English term Shire-Reeve. This person was responsible for managing a shire or county in England. The practice began sometime before 700 A.D. and when America was colonized by European settlers we brought the concept with us. 

Today in the US, 48 out of the 50 states have sheriffs. Alaska doesn’t have counties and therefore has no sheriff’s and Connecticut replaced its sheriff system with State Marshalls in 2000. In 46 out of the 48 states with the sheriff’s system the sheriffs are elected officials and mostly serve 4-year terms.

The duties of sheriff vary from state to state and even from county to county. In the south and western states sheriffs are seen as the constitutional law enforcement officer and the position is held in high esteem. Also, the more rural the county the more likely the sheriff is the primary law enforcement agency. Sheriff’s are also typically responsible for the jail and court systems in their county making the position difficult and challenge on a number of levels.

For Sheriff’s, leadership is an important skill. Not only must they lead their officers and civilian employees, but they must also lead in the jails, the courts, and because of the political nature of the position, in the community

As for notable people that have held the position of sheriff in American history it’s an interesting list. From historical figures like Bat Masterson, Daniel Boone, and Grover Cleveland to controversial ones like Buford Pusser, Grady Judd, and Joe Arpaio.

I realized if I wanted to discuss leadership in law enforcement, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk to at least one Sheriff.

I had a perfect candidate in mind.

[Insert Intro]

Sheriff Chris Lane was elected on November 8, 2022 as the 59th Sheriff of Bartholomew County IN

 Sheriff Lane has dedicated over 30 years to law enforcement.  During this time, he has served in a variety of positions, including patrol, supervision, administration, and investigations.  He was appointed as Chief Deputy of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department from 2015 - 2022.  Sheriff Lane is also a 2019 graduate of the FBI National Academy, joining an elite group that makes up less than 1% of America’s law enforcement community. 

And the most important part of his background…we went to the police academy together.