The authors of this book are seasoned professionals with 48 years of combined law enforcement experience. Thus, they bring a unique perspective to the scholarly literature centering on the hiring and training of law enforcement professionals. The overarching purpose of the book is to advance the notion that law enforcement agencies should adopt what the authors label as a personal anima or inner psyche. Colwell and Huth argue that such an adoption will improve police authorities overall effectiveness, efficiency and safety. The book proposes a new way of thinking about policing that has specific implications for the hiring and training of future law enforcement practitioners.
In the first chapter, Colewell and Huth describe what they mean in advocating a new personal anima for law enforcement professionals. They advocate a psyche that is rooted in personal integrity, courage and an unconditional respect for all people. Although they describe a simple concept, they recognize the difficulty to actually internalize these concepts. In essence, the authors encourage a law enforcement culture where respectful communication and an enduring principle of courage to stand for what is right permeates all levels of law enforcement organizations. Clearly to create this cultural change and personal anima changes will have to be made in the way we educate and train law enforcement professionals.
In Chapter Two, the authors develop the concept of integrity as the basis of unconditional respect. The authors purpose a “Rule of 30” scale that rates personal integrity, courage and the skills to act for what is right given a particular situation. The under theme here is that in order to move the police culture toward unconditional respect, support must be present in the social environment, the structural environment and the functional environment of the organization. The chapter concludes with numerous examples of what can occur when support is lacking in any single area and its bearing on an individual “acting for what is right.”
Colwell and Huth report unconditional respect as the realization of another's intrinsic value as a human being. In Chapter Three, the authors defend this concept as not making law enforcement officers less safe, or causing them to lose their tactical edge, but that unconditional respect will make officers safer. One of the authors describes a volatile situation in which they were able to defuse an intensifying conflict with a woman and a crowd by actively listening to the woman's concerns and demonstrating that they understood her situation. The authors are quick to point out that unconditional respect is not friendship or trust, but rather the way in which law enforcement officers choose to treat others which is a reflection of their own personal anima. The authors argue, that in tactical situations, the tendency by law enforcement professionals to view people as objects actually shades their situational awareness and make them less safe. The chapter devotes a fair amount of space discussing the pre-contact threat assessment, during contact awareness of the subtle precursors of violence, and use of force. The chapter concludes by advocating the development of a high degree of anima that will model high core values regardless of the situation. It is proposed that this type of anima will protect law enforcement officers not only from physical threats but also from internal threats such as complacency and eroded character.
Chapter Four takes up a discussion of the factors that can impede true listening and impact unconditional respect. The authors provide a description of how training can produce unintentional results and how all training, no matter the intention, can affect all three learning domains of knowledge, attitude and skill. They argue that unconditional respect provides the basis for effective training, social inspiration and system process within any organization. If you want to enhance listening and communication a personal anima of unconditional respect is essential. This enhanced listening and communication will bolster community policing efforts and increase officer safety.
In Chapter Five the authors encourage anima-based leadership. The chapter discusses in detail the leadership principles of character, competence, humility, credibility, flexibility, communication skills, trust, knowledge and discipline. The chapter concludes with a discussion of what may seem to be the obvious relationship between anima-based leadership as the foundation for unleashing the power of unconditional respect in law enforcement organizations. The discussion of leadership in the chapter is well done and is supplemented by the authors personal examples of applying these leadership principles in a way that demonstrates the necessity of the leader to be resolute, well-informed and technically skilled.
In Chapter Six, the authors discuss the possibility that the law enforcement sub-culture is truly to blame for the breeding of condescension and repugnance toward the community they serve. They argue that in order to obtain the loyalty and support of the community, law enforcement must model, teach and enforce systems of feedback and accountability rooted in a personal anima of unconditional respect. When law enforcement officers adopt this personal anima, they have no one to blame for actions and words that are contrary to this anima and must except full responsibility for their actions. The authors discuss how difficult and uncomfortable such a task is for most people, as well as the difficulties that may be encountered with implementing such a task.
In Chapter Seven, the authors discuss how policing has moved from the “noble peace officer” to an emergency driven reactionary force. They suggest that for law enforcement to get “[…] off the 911 hamster wheel […]” there must be a fundamental change in the personal anima of police officers. All citizens must be treated as respected human beings, program building in the community must be a fundamental mind-set and through active and empathic listening the causal realities of problems will be identified and understood. Responsibility and accountability must be focussed on the proceeding principles.
Chapter Eight focusses on the building of character. Character in the forms of integrity, courage and its manifestations in leadership. The authors do an excellent job detailing the foundations of character and provide examples of character in action. They propose that a person's actions are an indication of character, but that a deeply developed character are “rooted in integrity and buttressed by courage.”
In the final chapter of the book, the authors hope to provide a “road map” to a culture vested in a personal anima of unconditional respect. They are quick to point out that this is only a road map and does not provide detailed processes that should be followed to arrive at the destination. For an organization to transform to an “animating culture” it must put the decision making and performance of all its members under a microscope. The authors flash back to the pyramid they presented in chapter two and provide an overview of how the levels of functional environment, structural environment, and social environment along with the anima environment must transform before the entire culture of the organization will change. The authors do a good job of providing a “road map” to change and offer ample suggestions for hiring processes. Moreover, the authors provide self-reflective questions about the organizations social environment. In all, the book provides an excellent analogy using a sight alignment diagram to show the rear sight and front sight of a handgun and its focus on the basic mission and objectives of the agency. I found the roadmap a very effective way to illustrate the importance of aligning organizational values and mission. The underpinning of this chapter is that the structural environment composed of written documents, policies and procedures must be rooted in the high core values detailed in the book and support the mission of the organization. The book concludes with a return to the importance of establishing a personal anima and provides an inventory of questions you can ask yourself to check the growth of your own personal anima.
The book is engaging and well written. The strength of the book is how Colwell and Huth build a sound theoretical foundation for the establishment of an environment of unconditional respect in law enforcement. The authors recognize that the road map they provide will have some pitfalls and that making the transition to this new way of thinking in the police sub-culture will be difficult. The authors’ argument here is right on point. One of the most important steps in this process is to change the way basic law enforcement education and training is delivered.
The one weakness of the text was the lack of depth devoted to the issue of police training. Education and training is a key component to effect change within law enforcement organizations and it sets the stage for the culture of the organization. Moreover, the change that Colwell and Huth propose in the book will be difficult if law enforcement continues to train new recruits or provide in service training that follows the military model still employed by most law enforcement organizations. This model tends to reinforce the traditional police subculture and the “us vs them” mentality. If the transformation to personal anima of integrity, courage and unconditional respect is to be achieved law enforcement should move to an adult education model of education and training. In spite of this one weakness, the book is a must read for every level of police practitioner and those police scholars interested in police culture and the process of change. The book provides a great deal of food for thought to those engaged in the education and training of current or future law enforcement officers.
About the Reviewer
Dr Mark R. McCoy is a Professor at the University of Central Oklahoma Forensic Science Institute where he is the Administrator of the Digital Evidence and Cyber Security Program. In 2012 Dr McCoy was selected as a Full-bright Scholar in Information Technology/Digital Forensics. He recently retired after 20 years of service with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation where he was the first Supervisor of the OSBI Computer Crime Unit. He is a member of the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists and has been a Certified Forensic Computer Examiner since 1996. Dr McCoy has a Master's Degree in Forensic Science and a Doctorate in Occupational and Adult Education. His research interests include the application of technology in law enforcement, computer forensics, computer crime and law enforcement education and training. Dr Mark R. McCoy can be contacted at: mmccoy@uco.edu
