Police performance and accountability

Detecting negative behavior - the near misses and minor problems - before there is a serious incident increases retention, saves time and money, and reduces risk and liability for an agency. At the same time, identifying top performers and recognizing those officers who meet or exceed department and community expectations is essential for employee retention and maintaining department morale.

This special coverage series looks at how agencies can identify problematic behavior and prioritize officer wellness, and reviews the ethics training that will develop an active bystander culture in any agency.

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Digital Edition: Developing a Culture of Accountability

How agencies can weave the duty to intercede throughout their policies and training

Increasing accountability through early intervention

Every officer must prevent or stop any misconduct by another officer and report officer misconduct when they become aware of it
Rethinking our approach to police candidate selection

Starting with the right candidates is key to creating officers who embrace a culture of accountability
Strengthening a culture of bystandership in Colorado

Unifying what loyalty means in policing today and understanding how police officers experience the same inhibitors to intervening as everyone else

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Building an early intervention system: Lessons learned from the Yonkers Police Department
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Early intervention systems take time and work to develop and implement and there is no “one size fits all” solution
Getting to the root of officer performance issues
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What if training isn’t the answer? Three questions to find out
Chief Robert McNeilly on how early intervention can identify issues before they become problems
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"When officers make mistakes in their career, 95% of the time it's the fault of the department."
Early intervention systems offer the power to identify struggling officers as well as high performers
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By mining their own data, departments can pinpoint issues, save careers and better serve communities
On influence & accountability: Cultivating an outward mindset in law enforcement
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Understanding the root of our mindset – and how to shift it – is critical to transforming the work of law enforcement and our relationship with the community
Training day: How to be each other’s keeper
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Officers must be trained in how to verbally de-escalate and physically intervene when another officer loses emotional control
How can leaders ensure a culture of self-policing and accountability in their agencies?
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"Culture will eat policy all day long if you don’t train constantly on the demand for personal accountability both within yourself and your fellow officers."
Perspectives change when you are on the table
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I was surprised when I heard my neurosurgeon giving his supporting staff permission to "ABLE" him
Duty to intercede and the 5 pillars of organizational risk management
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The duty to intercede in law enforcement has legal roots, but we must go further, instilling it as a core organizational value
'Do something. Do the right thing.'
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An evaluation of the impact of active bystandership training
Improving personnel performance through evaluations and training
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While important for employee development, performance evaluations are only as good as the effort put forth to create them
Building an agency culture that embraces a duty to intervene
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Helping other officers to avoid behaviors that put their livelihoods, emotional well-being and freedoms at risk has no downside for a department or community
Protecting officers from themselves: Tactics for self-control
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Tactical intervention needs to be routinely, and realistically, trained upon
Dr. Ervin Staub on active bystandership in law enforcement
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How to prepare officers to successfully intervene to prevent harm and create a law enforcement culture that supports peer intervention