Any lasting or meaningful change in the profession of policing can only happen from the inside-out.

Here’s the problem.

Leadership theory continues to modernize with the times with business communities and the military leading the way. Healthcare and education, while far behind, are more and more starting to ask themselves how they can do better. Law enforcement, in stark contrast, lags about 20 years behind in how it trains its leaders. Their leaders still struggle to understand how to develop a corporate culture that places the value a human life above all else, including protecting the peace and property.

Too many leaders in policing receive little to no leadership training as they promote. Too few have the courage to challenge an insular and old-fashioned way of doing business. In fact, too few law enforcement leaders even know what a strong, human-lead culture looks like, let alone how to build one. It’s not necessarily their fault. It’s hard to know what to do if you have had little exposure to or education on what good looks like.

Of course we want officers responsible for illegal and heinous acts be brought to justice. But that won’t fix what needs to be fixed. Any organization can have a culture by design or by default. Police have an opportunity to build the cultures they want and not have to make do with the cultures they get.

We know that “most cops are good cops.” The time has come for all these good cops rise to up. It is time for the profession to demand change. To demand their leaders be held to account. One of the reasons we are seeing profound changes in how leaders lead in corporate America is because, in many cases, the employees demanded it.

I understand that with over 18,000 police agencies across the country and no national standards, the kind of culture change needed will be complicated. Complicated but not impossible. Which is why it is time for all the profession to demand that their leaders foster the kind of culture that will inspire them.

I remain hopeful that the change we need can happen. I have met forward-thinking chiefs and sheriffs who are breaking with tradition, challenging their own profession and pushing the boundaries that need to be pushed. They understand that culture matters and they are working to modernize how their officers, deputies and troopers do their jobs. We want to live in a world in which all people feel that justice is administered with dignity and fairness. And we will only be able to live in that world if the profession of policing makes it happen.

– Simon Sinek