February 2024 - Police Chief Magazine

When, What, and Why

My decision to become a police officer came after two male friends encouraged me to look into the profession upon my graduation from college. I had been involved in community service during college, s...

Recruitment & Personnel

Becoming a Learning Organization for Recruitment

Recruiting personnel is a continuous challenge for police organizations. Many U.S. state and local government employers identify policing positions as their most difficult to fill—more difficult tha...

Investigations

Navigating Confabulation

Confabulation, the unintentional distortion or fabrication of memories, presents significant challenges within the criminal justice system. Professionals involved in upholding the law and ensuring jus...

New Members

Roll Call: Shawn Butler

When I was named chief of police for the Auburn, New York, Police Department in 2016, there was no formal on-the-job training that prepared me for this massive responsibility. I knew that it would req...

Legal

Balancing Security and Privacy

Criminal activity can occur in any space that humans can access. Unsurprisingly, with the advent and proliferation of social media, some have seized the opportunity to perpetrate crimes in this digita...

Leadership

Exploring Emotional Intelligence

Many law enforcement leaders are beginning to accept that emotional intelligence (EI) is an essential quality of good leadership. Popularized in the 1990s by the work of psychologist Daniel Goleman an...

Perspectives

Perspectives: February 2024

My favorite IACP event is the IACP Technology Conference. I started attending the Technology Conference regularly around 2007 and quickly learned it is the place to be for technology trends and soluti...

Policy

Decriminalization and Beyond

In an era marked by the evolving landscape of drug policy and community well-being, the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada, recently embarked on a significant journey. This journey bears resem...