Authenticity Is Owning Who You Are

The concept of authenticity has been a subject that is being batted around in business circles and policing circles a like. Conversations point to the importance of honesty, availability, and vulnerability in an evolving world of policing that is challenged to balance community expectations with officer safety, and care with accountability.

How do we navigate policing with authenticity as our compass in a world that seems to be constantly changing its tasks and guidelines for police officers across the nation? How can we keep up when we simply react to the next moving goal post?

This is where authenticity is the very solution we are seeking. When we police with authenticity, we partner with our communities. We do not pretend to have every answer, but we earnestly and honestly foster and grow relationships with the experts around us who may have insight on the problem we are facing. We are humble enough to know when the challenge we face requires more than what we bring to the table.

Authenticity in policing demands that police and sheriffs return to the community to collaborate and communicate about the struggles and problems they encounter. It asks that we as an industry work together with stakeholders to create sustainable solutions to solve those problems. It does not advocate for the police officer, sheriffs deputy, or professional staff member to handle every situation with the limited tools they have. Rather, it pushes organizations to find experts within their community who have the answers to address the new problems we face.

Authenticity is owning who you are: the good and the bad, the strengths and the weaknesses.

Community safety is a team sport and police and sheriffs are a part of that team, but they are not the whole team. Social programs, restorative justice, the courts, the education system, mental health professionals, and housing programs are just some of the other players on the field. We must recognize when it is time to leverage these teammates and kick the figurative ball to them.

Authenticity is the strategy that gets us to the goal line.

-Siobhan McTighe