This past summer, Philadelphia hosted six FIFA World Cup matches, a 39-day free fan festival, and the full weight of FIFA's security expectations, all while keeping the city running. In this episode, host Deborah Spence sits down with three people who lived that experience from the inside.

Lauren Lambrugo, Chief Operating Officer of Philadelphia Soccer 2026, was at the center of it all: venues, fan experience, logistics, partnerships, and security. She's joined by Maurice Classen, a consultant with 21CP Solutions who served as project manager for the World Cup effort in Philadelphia, and Melissa Hyatt, also a consultant with 21CP Solutions, whose was on the ground with the core security team throughout the event.

Together, they unpack what it actually took to pull off one of the most complex public safety and special event challenges a city can face: building a security structure FIFA never provided a roadmap for, coordinating dozens of agencies with no real jurisdiction of their own, managing fatigue across 39 straight days, and pivoting in real time when extreme heat, flash flooding, and FIFA's own shifting policies threatened to upend the plan.

Whether you're a public safety executive, an event organizer, or simply curious what it takes to host the world, this conversation offers hard-won lessons on partnership, planning, and staying steady when things don't go as planned.

Jails are often the least visible parts of the justice system, yet the stakes of getting jail operations wrong are enormous: over-detention lawsuits, costly settlements, and real harm to the people held longer than the law allows. In this episode, 21CP sits down with consultant Virginia Ryan, whose background in sheriff's office data and analytics gave her a front-row seat to the gaps most agencies don't have the bandwidth to name, let alone fix. We talk about what those gaps actually look like on the ground: outdated technology, broken information flow between courts and jails, and compliance blind spots. From there, we introduce the idea of helping agencies build JailSTAT, a CompSTAT-inspired approach to jail management built around real-time population dashboards, release status visibility, and court docketing alerts. Whether you're a new sheriff inheriting a system you didn't build, a county government trying to understand jail costs, or an agency that suspects it has a problem but doesn't know where to start, this conversation is a starting point. We close with an open invitation: 21CP is looking for agencies willing to help us pilot JailSTAT and help build a model the field can actually use.

Recruitment remains one of the toughest challenges in law enforcement, but the audience of potential recruits may be far larger than most agencies assume. In this episode, host Deborah Spence talks with President Jose Villa and Senior Account Director Dallas Thompson of Sensis about their national "Call to Serve" research, a survey of more than a thousand job seekers exploring how the public perceives policing careers and what actually moves people to apply.

The conversation covers why nearly six in ten respondents viewed law enforcement positively, the three recruitment personas the research identified (career changers, non-traditional potentials, and security-seeking suburbanites), and why so many agencies focus on only one of them. Dallas and Jose also dig into what recruitment messaging and imagery resonate, why authenticity matters so much (including the risk of AI-generated photos backfiring), and how agencies with limited budgets can target their efforts more strategically across the full recruitment journey.

To learn more about Sensis or to download their research, visit: https://www.sensisagency.com/lawenforcement

What happens when police stop trying to solve every problem alone and start building the partnerships that actually make communities safer? In this episode of the 21CP Pod, we sit down with Michel Moore, the 57th Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and 21CP senior advisor, for a candid conversation about collaboration, mental health response, and what it takes to plan security for the biggest sporting event on the planet.

Michel draws on his four decades at the LAPD, including nearly six years as chief, to make the case that effective policing has never been about going it alone. From building co-response models with mental health clinicians, to partnering with community service providers to meet needs that fall outside law enforcement's lane, he reflects on what genuine collaboration between police and the broader service community can look like in practice.

That same philosophy of partnership turns out to be at the heart of large-scale special event planning as well. Michel talks about the work he and the 21CP team are doing as chief security officer for Philadelphia Soccer 2026, the World Cup host committee in Philadelphia, and why an event of that scale simply cannot succeed without deep, trusting relationships across dozens of agencies and organizations. He walks through the progression that separates departments that are truly ready from those that only think they are: standing plans, tabletop exercises, documentation, and then execution, with the understanding that 20% of any plan will always surprise you.

The episode closes with a message that runs through everything Michel Moore has built and believes: the communities that are safest are the ones where every responder knows their role, trusts their partners, and has practiced getting it right before it matters most.

In this episode, Dr. Eric Kowalczyk, CEO of ConnectionPoint, and Deborah Spence, Director of Business Development at 21CP Solutions, sit down to tackle one of the most pressing challenges facing public safety today: the growing gap between operational preparedness and public communication.

Drawing on decades of combined experience in law enforcement consulting, crisis communications, and federal policy, Eric and Deborah discuss why silence in an emergency is no longer acceptable, why most agencies fail not during a crisis but in the first 10 minutes, and how social media and AI-driven misinformation have added an entirely new dimension to the threat environment.

Deborah walks through a framework for preparedness while Eric maps it to the communications strategies municipalities need before, during, and after a critical incident. Together, they make the case that operational planning and public communications are not separate workstreams; they must be built together if communities are to maintain trust when it matters most.

Whether you work in law enforcement, emergency management, government communications, or public policy, this conversation is a candid, practical look at what it actually takes to be ready—not just operationally, but in the court of public opinion.

What does it really take to lead a police department through meaningful, lasting reform? In this episode of the 21CP Pod, we sit down with Terri Wilfong, veteran law enforcement leader, 21CP consultant, and former Chief of Police in Greenville, South Carolina, for a candid conversation about leadership, culture change, and what it means to serve both your department and your community.

Terry draws on three decades of experience across multiple agencies, including the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, the Kentucky State Police, and the Louisville Metro Police Department, to share hard-won lessons about what separates good leaders from bad ones and how she learned as much from the latter as the former.

From navigating federal oversight and a major departmental merger, to becoming the first outside chief in Greenville's history, Terry has seen firsthand how resistance to change can paralyze an organization and how the right leadership can slowly, steadily turn the ship around. She talks about the power of empowering middle managers, the importance of getting out of the ivory tower, and why building relationships is not just good politics but essential police work.

The episode closes with Terry's message to police chiefs navigating today's uniquely challenging landscape: you need each other now more than ever, and there is no shame in asking for support.

In this episode, we sit down with Sean Smoot, 21CP Managing Partner and a veteran of both police labor and leadership roles.

Sean talks about why the relationship between police chiefs and union leaders is one of the most critical factors in building effective law enforcement agencies. He walks us through what strong labor-management partnerships actually look like, explaining how collaboration between these two sides creates healthier organizations, better outcomes for officers, and more effective policing.

We explore the common pitfalls that turn labor-management relations adversarial, from mistrust and poor communication to the pressures both chiefs and union leaders face from their respective constituencies. Sean explains how both sides can move beyond these dynamics, sharing practical strategies for chiefs to engage productively with labor representatives and for union leaders to advocate for their members while supporting organizational excellence.

Whether you're a police executive, a union leader, or simply interested in how law enforcement agencies function from the inside, this conversation offers real-world wisdom on building partnerships that benefit everyone: officers, leadership, and the communities they serve.

In this episode, we sit down with Nola Joyce, 21CP Partner and a veteran organizational development expert.

Discover how Nola's innovative approach, inspired by community development models, can help law enforcement agencies create a strategic plan in just 8 hours. She walks us through the Theory of Change methodology, explaining how starting with your desired outcome and working backward creates plans that are actually implemented rather than gathering dust on a shelf.

We explore the unique challenges police leaders face in long-range planning, from the reactive nature of policing to staffing shortages and daily crises. Nola explains why these obstacles are actually the best reasons to engage in strategic planning, and shares real examples of breakthrough moments when departments brought critics and community members into the room.

Whether you're a police chief considering strategic planning or simply interested in organizational change in policing, this conversation offers practical wisdom on creating plans that drive real transformation.

Recorded live at the 2025 IACP Annual Conference, this special episode of The 21CP Pod revisits the legacy of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. A decade after its release, Task Force members Roberto Villaseñor, Ronald Davis, Laurie Robinson, Charles Ramsey, and Sean Smoot reflect on the recommendations that have stood the test of time, the changes they’ve seen across the profession, and the work that still lies ahead.

In this episode, Partner Ron Davis and Associate Consultant Terry Gainer discuss swatting—the dangerous practice of making false emergency reports to trigger high-intensity police responses. Drawing on decades of leadership at the local, state, and federal level, Ron and Terry explore why these incidents are so dangerous and why preparation can mean the difference between tragedy and a safe resolution.