Changing police culture

The biggest problem with American policing is a police culture that's heavy on a sense of entitlement and tribalism. Cops tend to perceive themselves as special (the rules don't really apply to them) and they have a sense of solidarity stemming from a belief system that enforces the idea that only cops are capable of judging cops and that large segments of the population want to harm police officers.

I'm not going to get into justifying that claim right now, I think it's pretty well established.

It it's true then the only way that we can improve the effectiveness of our resources allocated to policing is to change the culture. Because of the way policing is organized in the United States cultural change is a change that has to be done one police department at a time.

Research in organizational science strongly suggest that the only effective way for a CEO to change the culture of an organization is to first change the culture of the management hierarchy one or two levels below the CEO. Sometimes that just means he needs to change the people in the organization that report to him.

If the recent finding of an arbitrator about promotions in the Austin, Texas police department holds up the effect will pretty much be to make it impossible for the police chief in Austin to improve the culture of policing in Austin. That does not bode well for the future for citizens of Austin.

An independent arbitrator ruled Monday that an Austin police lieutenant who was denied a promotion by Police Chief Art Acevedo — a decision that sparked controversy in the department and community — shouldn't have been bypassed and must be elevated a rank.

According to the written opinion by independent arbitrator Norman Bennett, several matters Acevedo raised in his June decision were not "adequate to serve as a basis for the bypass" of Lt. Wayne Demoss to the rank of commander.

Among other issues, Acevedo had cited allegations that Demoss engaged in prostitution during a December 2007 vacation in Panama and Demoss' failure to recognize City Manager Marc Ott at an event earlier this year.

Bennett said Ott had been willing to testify that he did not believe his encounter with Demoss was a valid reason to withhold the promotion. Ott said he had never reported the incident to police officials.

The opinion provides a resolution to the first case in which Acevedo denied an officer's promotion. He has since denied promotions to two other officers; they also are appealing.

Acevedo's decisions have represented a shift in how the department handles the possible promotion of officers with disciplinary histories or who have raised doubts about how they would perform at a higher rank. Officials have said it was rare for previous chiefs to deny promotions, which they are allowed to do under state law when they have a valid reason.

Attorney Tom Stribling, who represented Demoss, said the decision "shows that (Acevedo) has to be able to justify his reasons, and until he can do so, he will not be able to prevail."

Acevedo said Monday night that he was disappointed by the outcome.

"We stand by our decision to bypass Lt. Demoss," he said. "With that said, we are going to ensure that as a commander, he provides the level of service to the people of this city — and to the men and women he is going to be leading — that is appropriate."

Acevedo said he will continue to bypass officers not suitable for a promotion "when we believe there is just cause."

In a June memo, Acevedo said his decision not to promote Demoss was primarily based on Demoss' actions during and after the trip to Panama. Internal affairs detectives received an allegation that Demoss had hired a prostitute while on the trip. Demoss told investigators that he went to a house of prostitution while in Panama because he was "curious" but did not pay for sex, the memo said. Prostitution is legal in Panama, according to the memo.