Lisa Boeving-Learned, Sergeant (retired)
I was blessed to be a part of the law enforcement family for twenty-five years. I served in patrol, FTO, Community Policing, Investigations, and developed our agency’s sex offender monitoring unit, a DOJ “Best Practices” program. When I was promoted to Sergeant, I worked the street by choice because I loved mentoring new officers and community policing. I retired in 2014.
Cops aren’t perfect, but to uphold the values of our profession we should always strive to be worthy of the badge. Today our ideals and principles are more important than ever. We’ll talk about issues relating to policing and the communities we serve. This is a no hate zone, but we may ruffle some feathers. My guiding principle is that integrity is the most important quality a police officer can have. The job is dangerous, but that does not change the need to serve the citizens that place their trust in us every day.
Square Cop In A Round World 
As the granddaughter and niece of retired police officers, I for one am delighted to see someone willing to stand up and open a long overdue dialogue. Neither side is all right….or all wrong, and there is profiling and prejudices on both sides…but that is true in all walks of life. I look forward to seeing the dialogues develope.
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Thanks, Mj, and we are grateful for your family’s service. I hope you will help to further these important discussions.
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Hey, Sarge, sounds like we retired officers might be on the same page regarding the crisis in American policling — and I am serous about this! I am at http://improvingpolice.wordpress.com. Take a look at my 4 yr old blog and let’s talk. Maybe be can collaborate on what needs fixing — be allies?
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David, that sounds like a plan. We need to get momentum going to drive this message home to all. I’m ready to collaborate with anyone interested in really working on the profession we love. Thanks for reaching out. I’ll stop over and check out your site.
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i saw a link that Equality Florida posted on Facebook concerning your comments and clicked over. I too am a retired police sergeant and lesbian. During my tenure I was presented with 2 incidents of what I felt was inappropriate behavior by another officer. One I witnessed and one was presented to me by one of the officers on my squad. The incident I witnessed I did report up the chain and not much was done, other than I now had a new reputation as a snitch. However, as time passed I learned it was only a small group. It was not an easy decision for the reasons you mention. The second incident was different. The officer who came to me was struggling with the scenario he witnessed and had been for several days. Having been through it myself I felt for him. I formally reported the incident and this time appropriate action was taken. Again, the reputation resurfaced. It too passed and interestingly enough, several years later the officer that was disciplined came and thanked me. He had been going through a tough time personally and unfortunately he brought it to work. It was an eye opener for him, the behavior never reoccurred and he served faithfully and retired with full benefits. The one thing I learned from the Chief who promoted me was “management courage”. It is often not easy to practice that philosophy but in my opinion, the more I hear from others, that’s what seems to be lacking. Good luck with your efforts.
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Hi Donna, Thanks for your service and courage. Early in my career, as a new FTO, my recruit told me about inappropriate behavior from a corporal. I spoke to my sergeant about it and, rather than speaking with him, the matter became an IA investigation. I was labeled “the snitch”. as you describe. Things are better, certainly than when I first began, but I still see pockets of behavior that I think can be addressed on a peer or first line supervisor level. But that standard, in my view, has to be purposely reinforced top down. it’s not enough to say there’s a policy. It’s a day to day culture of moral behavior that has to be continually nurtured. That way, the vast majority of good officers feel empowered. Thanks for your thoughts.
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There are a lot of interesting pieces of information out of this article.
In the big picture change is always difficult to accept because it implies that we weren’t doing something right. Ego gets in the way.
However, change is sometimes related to things outside our control and beyond judgement of what was being done individually. It has to do with a bigger societal shift and what we are going through today is a huge societal shift.
The U. S. was not the only country affected by the Floyd incident. We are in the throes of the same discussions and challenges here in Canada as well, as is the United Kingdom too.
As long as we think it’s about us, and have the attitude that it’s personal, we will fight change tooth and nail. But for those coming into our world from this point on, they won’t know anything different than the way it is to be done from this point forward.
Because we have a past, and a memory, we say we cannot accept changes, but moving forward police officers without a past will ask, “what’s so upsetting about how we are doing things now?”
I remember officers resigning or retiring early over the introduction of in-car computers, the tightening up of reasoning for warrants, and the introduction of open holsters, amongst many other things.
Change is never easy or good for anyone who clings to a past, especially when we let our pride and ego get involved. I am very proud of my many years in policing and I do find all this very hard to accept, but all this change that may come about for the new people is no change at all. I find solace in believing that all this is about the rise of a new Phoenix.
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Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, I believe we are in a moment for honest reflection and real change.
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