A few days ago, I posted on generational differences in law enforcement and I compared the crack wars of the 80s and 9/11 to today’s policing with COVID19 among us. I didn’t get into detail – just noting each generation will have their “career challenge”. Maybe they will have two or possibly more. What each of the aforementioned challenges have in common is that they were impacted by outside influences. The discovery of crack cocaine, the terror acts of 9/11 and COVID19 all originated outside the of the police department… but the cops just have to help clean up the mess.
But a tremendous internal law enforcement challenge, a paradigm shift of culture that emerged from inside a police department, the NYPD, presented an entirely new and provocative hurdle for not only themselves, but all law enforcement agencies across the country as similar programs popped up in most every agency. That challenge – to reduce the out of control crime rates and how to hold Commanders accountable for what happens under their command to ensure lives are saved and victims are less frequent, or nonexistent if possible. That may be aspirational but that is the goal. Zero crime. You are not done until that is the result and then you still have more work to do keeping it that way. (Think the infinite game as preached by @simonsinek) An executive level policing accountability program that uses computerized statistics and metrics to measure the success of Commanders and their programs – CompStat! After working in the private sector for over 14 years, I firmly believe that every company should develop and administer a CompStat styled program.
I was not part of the policy and strategy team that built CompStat but I was very much on the receiving end of that oversight. And it is from that perspective that I share these thoughts. My CompStat experience started in 1995 when I was as a Robbery Squad Sergeant in a Brooklyn precinct reporting on robberies in the area and whose Lt/Commander was often “sick” at the same time as we were “up,” causing me to fill in quite frequently. Later, as the Lt/Detective Commander of another Brooklyn precinct – the 7-9, affectionately known as “Do or Die Bed-Stuy” or “Flirting with Disaster.” In 2004, I was transferred to the Cold Case squad and my new boss sent be a lapel pin with the word “stress” and a red circle and a diagonal line through it. No more CompStat, no more stress.
But, looking back it was a stress that I thrived in. I enjoyed being held accountable. It actually got to a point where a few of my Commander peers and I were frustrated when we didn’t get called up. The Chief of the Department, The Deputy Commissioner of Crime Control Strategies (later DC Operations) and The Chief of Detectives would dig in deep on crime trends for the previous 28 days and all the major investigations during the same period of time. They had insights into all the stats and knew what to ask and why things were going on the direction they were. It all boiled down to 4 simple tenets which I gleaned from CompStat and have repeated since then, over and over, ad nauseum:
1. Accurate and timely intelligence
2. Rapid deployment
3. Effective tactics
4. Relentless follow-up
Whether it’s a sales organization, a restaurant, a hotel or a construction company, I don’t care. Metrics can be gathered and a program can be formulated to ensure a sense of urgency, efficiency, agility and ultimately success. With a CompStat type program in place you can be better than good. You can be “Special Good”. One caveat: Don’t let the metrics get in the way of the strategy. If you only follow the metrics; quantity over quality, your people with cheat, plain and simple. Dig deep and ensure quality over quantity.
Why was this a challenge? Because prior to CompStat being implemented in the NYPD, there was no real accountability. Imagine the task at hand for the leaders of the NYPD, the middle managers and the rank and file who were all asked to pivot almost immediately. A culture shift of monumental proportions. Doing so takes guts! Asking almost 40,000 cops and another 15,000 civilian employees to change overnight. But they did it. That is why those executives were the best leaders I have ever worked for and why I try to bring their leadership into everything I do. Despite what people often think, you can change a culture and you can hold your people accountable. If you want your organization to be “Special Good” and your people want to be too, then CompStat should be your “career challenge”. As Peter Drucker, the well-known business management guru once stated, “Culture eats strategy for Breakfast”. Imagine having the right culture and strategy.
