100+ Officers, 20+ Professional Staff, 12 Hours, 4 Days of Training… 0 Excuses

This week, I stepped away from the daily grind of my day job to lead the Equity In-service training for the Bend Police Department as a part of my off duty employment.
4 days. 3 hours a day. Over 100 sworn and professional staff came thru the room.

In many circles, "Equity Training" is met with crossed arms or even eye rolls. It’s often seen as a compliance hurdle rather than a performance tool.

Well, I don't just do "compliance" training. I do operator level, high-performance training.

We didn't just talk about theory. We talked about the reality of the front line, fair and impartial decision making, bias, and systems to mitigate it. We talked about the standard of excellence required when you are the face of the community, under a microscope, where ever mistake is filmed and public trust and legitimacy is maintained or fractured… “One Decision at a Time”.

The results speak for themselves:  

114 participants responded to the in class survey with 97.4% rating the sessions a 4 or 5 out of 5.

71.1% gave it a perfect 5/5.

Zero negative ratings!

It’s amazing what happens when you don’t call everyone racist or white supremacists… When you treat people like professionals and speak the language of high performance… they don't just "listen", they engage. Even with a DEI training talking to mostly white cops about bias, stereotypes, profiling, building trust and legitimacy, when done well they’re not defensive… they’re curious. I sincerely believe most people want to do a good job in serving their community! 

Has this been your experience? 

To the City Manager and the Chief of Police: Thank you for trusting me with equipping the men and women who protect this community.

To the officers and pro staff: A sincere thank you for the engagement, transparency, and overall the commitment to the standard! 

The work doesn't just end when inservice session does… the real work starts when you hit the street.

Thank you

#TheOperatorStandard #Leadership #PublicSafety #Culture #Execution #BendPD