DeepSummary
The transcript discusses a policing leadership academy created by the University of Chicago's Crime Lab to train police commanders on modern management practices. The program aims to reduce gun violence and increase trust in communities by providing institutional-quality training on data analysis, trauma-informed approaches, and fostering cultural competence.
The academy was born out of research by economist Jens Ludwig showing that effective police leadership can significantly impact public safety outcomes like crime rates and use of force incidents. The Crime Lab partnered with retired police officials to design a rigorous curriculum covering strategic decision-making, violence reduction strategies, and organizational management.
Participants from major U.S. police departments attended the inaugural six-month program. They worked on case studies, completed capstone projects addressing local violence issues, and built cross-department networks. The goal is to modernize policing nationwide by upskilling a relatively small number of influential leaders.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The University of Chicago created a policing leadership academy to train commanders from major U.S. cities on modern management strategies like data analysis, trauma-informed approaches, and cultural competence.
- The program aims to reduce gun violence and increase community trust by professionalizing police department leadership and operations.
- Research showed effective police leadership can significantly impact public safety outcomes like crime rates and use of force incidents.
- The six-month curriculum covers strategic decision making, violence reduction, organizational management, social network analysis, and capstone projects on local issues.
- Participants from over 20 major police departments worked on case studies, built cross-department networks, and explored newpolicing models.
- By upskilling a relatively small number of influential leaders, the academy hopes to modernize U.S. policing practices nationwide.
- The program emerged from an urgent need to address soaring violence in Chicago and recognition that police departments lack high-performance organizational management.
- Both police leaders and the public have expressed frustration with the outdated, ineffective operational status quo of many departments.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “The curriculum has to be relevant to the job, has to be realistic, and has to be rigorous.“ by Sandy Joe MacArthur
- “The curriculum within the first two days. I was in awe.“ by Max Capustin
- “You know, spending time looking at policing and realizing these aren't high performing organizations of the sort that you would expect.“ by Jens Ludwig
- “Nobody complains more bitterly about the terrible functioning of the Chicago police Department than Chicago cops.“ by Jens Ludwig
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Episode Information
Freakonomics Radio
Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
12/7/23
In policing, as in most vocations, the best employees are often promoted into leadership without much training. One economist thinks he can address this problem — and, with it, America’s gun violence.
- SOURCES
- Kenneth Corey, director of outreach and engagement for the Policing Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago and retired chief of department for the New York Police Department.
- Stephanie Drescher, operations captain in the City of Madison Police Department.
- Max Kapustin, assistant professor of economics and public policy at Cornell University.
- Jens Ludwig, economist and director of the Crime Lab at the University of Chicago.
- Sandy Jo MacArthur, curriculum design director for the Policing Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago.
- Sean Malinowski, D.O.J. strategic site liaison for the Philadelphia Police Department and retired chief of detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department.
- Sindyanna Paul-Noel, lieutenant with the City of Miami Police Department.
- Michael Wolley, deputy chief of operations with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
- RESOURCES:
- "Policing Leadership Academy (PLA) Graduation of Inaugural Cohort," by the University of Chicago Crime Lab (2023).
- "Policing and Management," by Max Kapustin, Terrence Neumann, and Jens Ludwig (NBER Working Paper, 2022).
- "Getting More Out of Policing in the U.S.," by Jens Ludwig, Terrence Neumann, and Max Kapustin (VoxEU, 2022).
- "University of Chicago Crime Lab Launches National Policing and Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academies," by the University of Chicago Crime Lab (2022).
- "What Drives Differences in Management?" by Nicholas Bloom, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lucia Foster, Ron S. Jarmin, Megha Patnaik, Itay Saporta-Eksten, and John Van Reenen ...