The Chiefs' Meeting

I was recently invited to attend a county’s police chiefs’ meeting. In my career I have attended quite a few of these in a number of counties, but it had been a few years since I was at one. And basically not much has changed, which is good.

It was obvious as soon as I walked into the room that the chiefs and their staffs know each other well. The departments represented at the meeting were a mixture of small, medium, and large, representing very different communities.

The meeting had a formal call-to-order, and the group’s president began working his way through the agenda with a review of the minutes of the last meeting. I did a short presentation on the risk management issues we are seeing in our statistics and about some upcoming projects.

I had forgotten how impressive it is to see a room full of law enforcement professionals actively and openly engaged in a discussion of current and future issues facing their departments and their cities. It’s a chance for them to check in with each other and to increase their awareness of what is happening around them. And the conversations continued after the agenda had been completed, through the lunch, and even in the parking lot as they headed to their cars.

I thank New Brighton’s Public Safety Director Tony Paetznick for the invitation to attend the meeting and for giving me a chance to “check in” with the chiefs.

Up next: Flooding Precautions

Stay safe,
Rob