The following content is part of Police1’s Police Leader Playbook, a resource aimed at helping new law enforcement leaders move beyond basic management and supervision skills and become inspirational leaders with integrity and passion. Through a handful of questions presented by Police1, veteran leaders reflect on their early days in leadership roles and offer advice, while newer leaders detail their experiences taking on a new position. Email editor@police1.com to offer your insights for the Police Leader Playbook.
Chief James “Jay” Gerace is a 26-year veteran of law enforcement and the chief of police for the Colonie Police Department in New York, appointed in December 2023 and officially taking the helm in January 2024. A lifelong Colonie resident, he has spent nearly his entire career with the department, where his father also served as an investigator. Gerace has led the development of evidence-based, scenario-driven training programs designed to prepare officers for high-risk situations. His work has been published in leading trade outlets, including Police Chief Magazine and the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, and he has presented before national organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
The Town of Colonie Police Department in New York has 160 employees, including 117 sworn officers, who serve a community of 85,000 residents and respond to roughly 75,000 calls for service each year.
What was the incident or person in your career that put you on the path to becoming a chief?
The person who truly set me on the path to becoming a chief wasn’t a mentor or a specific incident on the job, but my wife, Heather. As a leader of young people, the most consistent piece of advice I give is to choose your spouse wisely. Becoming a chief is a decades-long journey of sacrifice and relentless self-improvement. It’s a path that requires a partner who understands the demands and supports you through every setback and success. Without my wife’s support, I simply couldn’t have stayed the course. Your life is defined by who you wake up next to and who you say goodnight to. Getting that choice right is the foundation for everything else, as it directly impacts both your personal well-being and your professional journey.
What do you (or did you) want to accomplish, improve or make better in your first 30 days as chief, 6 months as chief and year as chief?
My first year was about a deliberate, three-stage approach: laying the foundation, building momentum and sustaining our progress.
First 30 days: Laying the foundation
My first 30 days were all about listening and establishing a clear philosophical foundation. My standing orders were simple: “Make Deposits” with every citizen interaction and “Head Upstream” to solve underlying problems. This defined our core identity and set the tone for everything to come.
First 6 months: Building momentum
After the first month, we moved quickly to build operational momentum. We launched a pilot program with a dedicated station officer, which handled over 1,750 calls for service, freeing up patrol officers for higher-priority tasks. We also began implementing our Stratified Organizational Model of Crime Reduction, which holds every member of the department accountable for proactive crime and disorder prevention efforts through regular meetings and mission briefings. This is an example of changing the day-to-day work to change police culture.
First year: Sustaining a legacy
The rest of my first year was about making our progress sustainable. My ultimate goal was to institutionalize our commitment to evidence-based policing. We secured research grants from New York State and have partnered with the Finn Institute to study our retail theft initiatives and the University of Cincinnati Institute for Crime Science to study our crime and disorder interventions. This proves we’re not just taking action, we’re actively gathering evidence to inform future strategies. We also focused heavily on our people, launching a comprehensive, science-backed in-service training program and leveraging grants to support our robust Wellness Program.
How are you creating an organizational culture that people want to be a part of, to join and to stay?
We are cultivating a culture where every team member understands their vital role in our mission. We’re creating an environment of trust, purpose and professional growth that people want to be a part of.
Purpose and trust
We reinforce a culture of purpose through our core tenets of “Make Deposits” and “Head Upstream.” Our Stratified Organizational Model ensures this philosophy is embedded at every level, from daily mission briefings for patrol officers to monthly meetings with leadership. Everyone understands their contribution to a greater goal of solving community problems, not just responding to calls. The concept of “subtraction” is a powerful part of this. To create a culture of clarity, we must actively work to eliminate the unnecessary duties that steal our attention and get in the way of our core mission. When there is clarity of purpose, teams will thrive.
We have also hosted several “Pitch a Program - Convince a Chief Days” where any department member, sworn or professional staff, can present on issues important to them. In virtually every case, the police administration adopted in some manner the recommendations of our “on the ground” employees. This is a crucial element of internal procedural justice and gives our people a voice.
Professional and personal investment
We’ve made significant investments in our people. Our dedication to Evidence-Based Policing (EBP) provides our team with the resources and training to continuously improve their craft. We secured research grants to study our own initiatives, which shows our officers that their work is part of a larger, scientifically backed effort to improve policing. On the personal side, our robust Officer Wellness Program directly addresses the incredible stress of this job by providing upgrades to our fitness facility, peer support, expert speakers and access to resources.
We are also building a culture of Extreme Ownership, empowering every individual to take control of their work and their development, creating better police officers and better people.
What’s your process for making major decisions?
My decision-making process is grounded in a simple but powerful principle: to gather evidence to inform action. Major decisions are rarely made in a vacuum; they must be strategic, data-driven and aligned with our mission.
My process follows a clear three-step framework:
1. Start with the “why”
The first step is to define the problem we are trying to solve and align it with our core tenets of “Make Deposits” and “Heading Upstream.” I ask: Is this an issue that requires a new policy, a new initiative or new technology? Is this decision aligned with our mission to build trust and solve the root causes of problems? For example, when we considered launching a Station Officer pilot program, the “why” was clear: reduce the strain of high call volume and free up patrol officers for higher-priority tasks, thereby improving both efficiency, morale and our crime-fighting capacity.
2. Gather the evidence and consider what to subtract
Once the “why” is established, we move to the “what.” This is where our commitment to Evidence-Based Policing (EBP) is crucial. We don’t rely on gut feelings or anecdote. We analyze the relevant academic research, internal data, consult with subject matter experts and engage with our own team members. Before adding a new policy or initiative, we consider what we can subtract from our current processes to improve our output. We recognize that our investigators and officers face “more duties than time,” so we constantly look for ways to streamline workflows and eliminate unnecessary steps to ensure we are only focused on the things that will provide the highest leverage.
3. Implement and evaluate
The final step is not just to make the decision, but to measure its effectiveness. We implement the change with a clear plan for evaluation and accountability. This idea of “tracking” ensures that a new policy or initiative is integrated into our weekly and monthly operations, with a continuous feedback loop to ensure it’s working.
Values-based leadership behaviors, like honesty and integrity, are important to officers. How do you show your personnel that you are leading with these and other value-based behaviors?
I demonstrate values-based leadership by focusing on two core commitments: empowering them professionally and supporting them personally.
Professional empowerment
Andy Grove, the legendary CEO of Intel, argued that training is the boss’s job and one of the highest leverage activities a manager can perform. I show my commitment by always making sure that I am the lead instructor in several in-service training blocks. Our training philosophy embeds learning science to make officers more adaptable and effective. Our training calendar is built around eight mandatory training days a year, including two-day sessions in the spring and fall that are designed to give officers a sleep cycle to consolidate their learning. We supplement this with 10 open range days and 10 open mat days for grappling, which officers can attend on their own time.
We also grant any officer permission to travel to the NYS Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Services Training Facility in Oriskany, which is state-of-the-art and offered free of charge to NY police officers. Our training focuses on risk mitigation and officer safety in high-liability, low-frequency events (like officer-involved shootings and active attacks) and high-liability, high-frequency events (like common use-of-force encounters and traffic stops where officer tactics may accidentally “drift” away from best practices), applying scientific principles like active recall and spaced repetition to ensure learning sticks.
We are also in the final stages of testing and evaluating a “micro-dose” briefing training program where officers engage in weekly tactical decision games (TDGs) to build their experience base and recognize patterns in the field. This level of investment shows them that their professional development is a top priority for me as a leader.
It is also crucial to acknowledge that there is a fundamental difference between mistakes and misconduct. When a tragic outcome occurs in a time-compressed situation, I will stand up and explain the realities of human performance under extreme stress. Our training emphasizes building adaptive decision-makers, not robots, recognizing that real-life encounters are often unique, rapidly unfolding and demand immediate judgments, rather than following a rigid procedure.
Personal support
I show I care about them as individuals by making a tangible investment in their well-being. Our robust Officer Wellness Program provides peer support and access to resources. When they act in good faith and in accordance with their training, I will be the one to provide context and defend their actions. When they are wrong, however, they will be held accountable, and we will use it as a teaching opportunity to foster a “Just Culture” of learning, not a culture of blame. This approach balances accountability with support, ensuring they know I have their back while still holding them to the highest professional standards.
Leadership lightning round
What is a leadership book, podcast or seminar you’ve found invaluable?
I read a great deal, but recently my thinking has been influenced by the book “Evidence-Based Policing: Translating Research into Practice” by Cynthia Lum and Christopher Koper, because it provides the essential framework for a fair and balanced approach to crime reduction by proving that we must gather evidence to inform our resource deployment and then assess whether those interventions are actually working.
How do you organize your schedule and stay on schedule?
If you chase two rabbits you won’t catch either of them. Extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow we can focus. We will hit what we aim at. I am a big fan of the software Trello to help me do just that. I follow a multi-scale planning system inspired by Cal Newport, reviewing my quarterly goals every Sunday and then time-block my calendar for the week to ensure every hour is dedicated to moving our strategic plans forward by eliminating the unnecessary and focusing on our highest-leverage activities.
If you knew the budget request would be approved, what’s a big purchase you’d make for your department today?
If I knew the budget would be approved, I would invest in upgrading our three offsite training facilities to provide the kind of reality-based training and force-on-force scenarios that are crucial for officer and public safety and turning one of them into a Town-wide Emergency Operations Center.
What is one way leaders can show they care about their people?
Leaders can show they care about their people not through a traditional open-door policy, but by adopting an “empty chair” policy, which means getting out of the office and actively engaging with their personnel.
At the end of the workday, how do you recharge?
I recharge at the end of the workday by clearing my head with Jiu-Jitsu training and staying grounded by reading stories aloud to my children.
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