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The CopDoc Podcast - Season 11 - Episode 178
Guests: Chief Ryan Newell, Southborough Police Department, Massachusetts, and Chief Brian Griffin, Northborough Police Department, Massachusetts
What does it take to lead a small police department effectively? How do new chiefs navigate budgets, build trust, develop future leaders, and create an environment where officers feel valued and supported?
In this episode of The CopDoc Podcast, Dr. Steve Morreale welcomes two neighboring Massachusetts police chiefs, Ryan Newell of Southborough and Brian Griffin of Northborough, for a candid conversation about the realities of police leadership in smaller communities.
Both chiefs share their experiences transitioning into executive leadership, learning the complexities of municipal government, and recognizing that decisions made in the chief's office have consequences throughout the organization. Their discussion highlights the importance of collaboration, active listening, empathy, accountability, and learning from the people who do the work every day.
In This Episode
Leadership Takeaways
Ryan and Brian reinforce an important principle: leadership is not about having all the answers. It is about creating an environment where people can speak openly, contribute to decisions, and understand the reasoning behind them.
They discuss the value of learning from former chiefs, building trusted relationships with fellow chiefs, and recognizing that command authority does not require a command-and-control approach to every interaction.
Their experiences also demonstrate that small, personal gestures matter. Remembering birthdays, recognizing family milestones, listening to employees, and making officers feel valued can help build a supportive organizational culture.
For chiefs and aspiring leaders, the message is clear: invest in your people, prepare the next generation, listen before deciding, and recognize that the badge carries the same responsibility regardless of the size of the department.
About the Guests
Chief Ryan Newell leads the Southborough Police Department in Massachusetts. With more than 28 years in policing, his career includes service with the Nantucket Police Department and extensive experience in Southborough. He discusses the importance of thoughtful decision-making, supporting frontline supervisors, officer wellness, and preparing employees for future leadership.
Chief Brian Griffin leads the Northborough Police Department in Massachusetts. A Northborough native, he shares insights from his career in patrol and detective work and reflects on the influence of former chiefs, the value of peer relationships, and the responsibility of building a professional and supportive department.
Join the Conversation
What can police leaders do to create an environment where employees feel heard, supported, and invested in the organization's success? How can smaller departments prepare the next generation of leaders while maintaining morale and serving their communities effectively?
Listen, reflect, and consider how these lessons apply to your own leadership practice.
Learn more about the podcast at https://copdocpodcast.com.
Hosted by Dr. Steve Morreale, The CopDoc Podcast explores police leadership, organizational culture, and innovative ideas through conversations with leaders in policing, communities, academia, and government.
Stay safe, and keep leading.
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected]
Website: www.copdocpodcast.com
If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]
The CopDoc Podcast - Season 11 - Episode 177
Leadership Culture Under Pressure with Chief Brandon Gurley
Dr. Steve Morreale talks with Chief Brandon Gurley of Brookhaven Police Department about the career path that shaped his leadership, from dispatcher and detention officer to chief of a fast-growing agency near Atlanta. The conversation centers on how early frontline experience, intentional culture-building, and curiosity-driven leadership can improve policing outcomes.Gurley also shares how Brookhaven Police Department was built from the ground up, how he approaches command staff meetings, and why he believes policing often promotes technical experts instead of true people leaders.
Key topics
Notable quotes
“Culture by design.”
“Curiosity is a growing skill set.”
“A great police leader is someone who listens to understand before they listen to respond.”
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected]
Website: www.copdocpodcast.com
If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]
The CopDoc Podcast - Season 11 - Episode 176
Dr. Doreen Jokerst on culture, leadership, and modern policing in Overland Park
Dr. Doreen Jokerst, chief of police in Overland Park, Kansas, joins Steve Morreale for a conversation about leadership, culture, technology, and what it means to build trust inside a police organization and with the community. She shares how her path through city policing, university policing, and doctoral study shaped a leadership style rooted in curiosity, collaboration, and accountability.We discuss how she uses listening sessions, transparent communication, and thoughtful technology governance to strengthen legitimacy, support officers, and improve service. This episode is especially relevant for leaders thinking about culture change, talent development, and the future of policing.
Key topics
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected]
Website: www.copdocpodcast.com
If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]
The CopDoc Podcast - Season 10 - Episode 175
GUEST: Chris Hsiung, Undersheriff, San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, and Executive Director, The Curve
EPISODE SUMMARY:
Rank does not make a leader. That is the premise Chris Hsiung and I worked through in this conversation, and it shapes everything else we talked about.
Chris has spent more than 30 years in policing, most of it with the Mountain View Police Department, where he rose from patrol officer to chief. He now serves as Undersheriff with the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and leads The Curve, a nonprofit he co-founded with Simon Sinek to help police leaders build cultures grounded in trust and purpose. We talked about what it actually takes to change a department's culture, and why that work starts with what leaders do, not what they say.
Chris put it simply: culture equals values plus behavior. A lot of agencies have values painted on the wall and printed on the cruiser. Few agencies have leaders whose daily behavior matches those words. We got into what happens when that gap goes unaddressed, why leaders need people who will tell them the truth instead of what they want to hear, and how Chris learned to lead by taking off the stars and getting into the jail, onto the ride-along, into the training room, alongside the people he was asking to trust him.
This one is for chiefs, sheriffs, sergeants, and anyone tired of waiting for a promotion before they start leading.
KEY TOPICS DISCUSSED:
INSIGHTS FROM THE CONVERSATION:
Chris made a case that leadership starts long before anyone pins on a badge or a stripe. Waiting for the title is the wrong strategy. He also pushed back on the idea that a leader can understand an organization from behind a desk. His answer to reading an agency's real condition was blunt: go find out for yourself, in person, without the rank showing.
On trust, Chris was direct about the danger of an organization where nobody tells the boss bad news. If every report comes back green, that is not evidence things are fine. It is often evidence people are afraid to say otherwise, and a leader steering by false readings will not see the iceberg coming.
He closed with a simple answer to a hard question: what should policing never stop doing? Caring. Everything else in this conversation, the culture work, the trust building, the willingness to admit mistakes, comes back to that one word.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FOR LISTENERS:
ABOUT CHRIS HSIUNG:
Chris Hsiung currently serves as Undersheriff with the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, a role he stepped back into in November 2025 to support Sheriff Ken Binder during a period of organizational rebuilding. He is a retired police chief with more than 30 years of public safety experience in the San Francisco Bay Area, most of it with the Mountain View Police Department, where he worked as a detective and SWAT team member before being appointed chief in 2020.
Chris is a founding board member and Executive Director of The Curve, a national nonprofit he co-founded with Simon Sinek and a network of police chiefs and sheriffs to modernize leadership development in policing. He co-chairs the IACP Human and Civil Rights Committee and holds board advisory roles with the University of Virginia Center for Public Safety and Justice, the Future Policing Institute, and the Crisis Ready Institute. He is a nationally recognized speaker and writer on organizational culture and adaptive leadership.
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
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Contact us: [email protected]
Website: www.copdocpodcast.com
If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]
The CopDoc Podcast - Season 10 - Episode 174
Guest: Terry Dwyer, J.D. – Professor, Author, & Playwright
In this episode, Dr. Steve Morreale sits down with Terry Dwyer, J.D., a professor at Western Connecticut State University and a retired New York State Police investigator. Terry shares insights from his diverse career stretching across the Navy Reserves, corrections, the court system, state policing, legal practice, and creative writing. They dive deep into the differences between leadership and management, police culture, systemic issues facing women in law enforcement, and the trauma that impacts officers and their families.
Key Takeaways
Featured Works by Terry Dwyer
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Contact us: [email protected]
Website: www.copdocpodcast.com
If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]
The CopDoc Podcast - Season 10 - Episode 174
Unlock the secret to transforming police leadership from the front lines. Dr. Robin Engel shares how dedicated research and real-world experience are reshaping police training and community trust—yet the journey is anything but easy.
In this powerful conversation, Robin reveals how her personal history fuels her relentless drive to improve policing—highlighting pivotal moments like her role in Cincinnati’s reform after a tragic officer-involved shooting. You’ll discover her innovative approach to data-driven policing, the critical importance of first-line supervisors, and why understanding and empowering the backbone of police organizations can prevent crises before they happen.
We break down:
How accreditation standards and evidence-based practices guide meaningful reform
There’s a stark warning here: neglecting frontline supervisors and evidence-based strategies leaves departments vulnerable to the chaos of the next crisis. Conversely, building a culture of continuous learning and local leadership means resilient, safer communities. Robin’s heartfelt story of overcoming skepticism and her unwavering commitment to impactful reform is an essential listen for anyone determined to make policing better.
Perfect for police officers, administrators, researchers, and community advocates eager to innovate and bridge the divide between theory and practice. Robin Engel, a renowned professor at Ohio State University and a leader in policing reform, exemplifies the power of knowledge turned into action, making this episode a vital blueprint for meaningful change.
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected]
Website: www.copdocpodcast.com
If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected]
Website: www.copdocpodcast.com
If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]
The CopDoc Podcast - Season 10 - Episode 173
Guest: Chief Ryan Johansen, Apex Police Department, Apex, North Carolina
Most police chiefs walk into a new department and tell people their vision. Ryan Johansen asked questions and took notes for 90 minutes with every single one of his 200 employees. One-on-one. No agenda. Just listening.
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
Chief Ryan Johansen of the Apex Police Department sits down with Dr. Steve Morreale for a wide-ranging conversation on what it takes to rebuild a police department's culture, restore officer confidence, and lead with both conviction and humility.
Ryan came to Apex, North Carolina about 15 months ago after five years as chief at the San Bruno Police Department in California, just south of San Francisco. He made the move with his wife and family, driven by a desire for a different environment and a chance to do something meaningful. What he found was an agency with purpose-driven officers who had pulled back on proactive policing, and a community watching crime numbers rise as a result.
He walked in with a clear belief: most of what ails policing starts inside the organization. If officers are treated as numbers, managed through policy, and punished more than developed, it shows in how they treat the public. Johansen flipped the model. He spent 90 minutes one-on-one with every one of his 200 employees, asking questions, listening, and taking notes. He made clear that the org chart runs the other way: everyone in the building, including him, exists to support the officers answering calls.
The conversation covers a lot of ground. Ryan talks about his early days at the San Diego Police Department and what he learned by leaving a 3,000-officer agency for a 50-officer department in San Bruno. He talks about taking the chief's job in San Bruno just two days before Covid lockdowns, and then navigating George Floyd and the calls for reform that followed. He describes walking into the Apex roll call room, tattoos and all, introduced only as "Ryan, from California," and what he said to a room full of officers who weren't sure what to make of him.
He and Steve dig into the managing versus leading debate, the difference between policy and culture, the false safety of no-pursuit policies, and what servant leadership actually looks like when it's time to discipline someone. Johansen is candid about the tension between institutional pressure and personal courage, and why he believes most police chiefs live in fear of the average three-year tenure rather than leading the way their people deserve.
This is a refreshing, honest conversation with a chief who isn't performing. He says what he believes. And the people around him are proving it works.
KEY TOPICS COVERED
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Contact us: [email protected]
Website: www.copdocpodcast.com
If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]
The CopDoc Podcast - Season 10 - Episode 171
In this episode of The CopDoc Podcast, Dr. Steve Morreale sits down with Christian Quinn, retired Fairfax County Police executive and founder of Fulcrum Innovations.
Christian traces his path from Massachusetts summer police officer to one of the technology leaders in one of the nation's largest county police departments. The conversation then dives into the rapidly changing world of artificial intelligence in policing.
Steve and Christian explore:
Key takeaway
This is a candid discussion about the opportunities, blind spots, and ethical challenges that come with AI in public safety. If you lead people, manage policy, or are trying to understand what AI means for policing, this episode offers practical insights from someone who has been on both the operational and technology sides of the profession.
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected]
Website: www.copdocpodcast.com
If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]
The CopDoc Podcast - Season 10 - Episode 170
EPISODE SUMMARY
What happens when a police chief walks into his first department meeting and tells the staff, "I'm here to serve you — not the other way around"? For Chief Tom Wetzel of the University Circle Police Department in Cleveland, Ohio, that statement was not a slogan. It was a commitment he has carried through three decades of policing, from dispatcher to lieutenant to chief.
In this conversation, Tom shares a leadership philosophy built on servant leadership, dignity, and what he calls the "sweet spot" between accountability and motivation. He is direct about what he has seen: too many police departments creating more stress for their officers inside the building than on the streets. The politics, the gossip, the nitpicking, the heavy-handed discipline — it follows officers home, sits with them at the dinner table, and follows them to bed. He believes that is not just a morale problem. It is a leadership problem, and it is fixable.
Tom also discusses his book, A Cop and a Coffee Cup, a short, practical blueprint for police supervisors and leaders. The concept is simple: imagine a wise, seasoned officer sitting across the table from a young leader, with one cup of coffee and one shot to pass on what matters most. That is the book. It covers how to develop inspired and accountable officers, how to handle discipline with grace and discretion, and why the word "clemency" belongs in every chief's vocabulary. If you lead people in blue — or aspire to — this episode will give you a great deal to think about.
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected]
Website: www.copdocpodcast.com
If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]
The CopDoc Podcast - Season 9 - Episode 169
EPISODE SUMMARY:
Steve Morreale sits down with Captain Dr. Heather Glogolich of the NJIT Police Department in Newark, New Jersey, for a candid, deeply personal, and professionally rich conversation about what it means to lead in policing today. Heather brings more than 22 years of law enforcement experience, an EdD focusing on domestic violence and higher education, and a hard-won perspective on what it takes not just to survive in a male-dominated profession, but to thrive in it and bring others along.
Heather speaks openly about her journey from the Morris County Sheriff's Office to patrol officer, lieutenant, and now captain, including having to sue her agency to secure a promotion she had earned. Rather than letting that experience define her bitterness, she channeled it into a commitment to mentorship and transformational leadership. Her story is one of accountability, growth, and choosing to lead with love, even when the institution made that difficult.
The conversation ranges widely, from the real reasons women remain underrepresented in law enforcement leadership, to the operational risks of empathy, to why she believes the first day on the job should include leadership training. Heather challenges comfortable assumptions, pushes back thoughtfully on conventional DEI narratives, and delivers a message that will resonate with anyone trying to grow as a leader, regardless of rank, gender, or years on the job.
KEY TOPICS DISCUSSED:
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected]
Website: www.copdocpodcast.com
If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]
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