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Chief James McMillen

Chief's Corner

James McMillen is chief of Sikeston Department of Public Safety.

Opinion

Chief James McMillen: Changing the direction of our policing, part 3

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

“What is the Chief doing? Is he going to be weak on crime?” This is the kind of thing I have heard both in the department and out in the community a few times over the last year. Hearing these types of comments was the main reason that I began writing this series. After all, my experience as a public information officer taught me to relay information to people so they understand what we are doing, and public support is vitally important in our profession.

So, if you have been reading these opinion pieces, I hope you do not believe that we intend to be weak on crime. In fact, my hope is to partner with our citizens and build relationships; these relationships, in theory, should help us lower the crime rate.

In a lot of cases, many people will not call the police unless they built a relationship with a specific officer. After two decades in this profession, I have made many friendships and acquaintances in our city. I have encouraged these friends/acquaintances to call me whenever they needed to and many times I would even give out my cell phone number. When they do call, I thank them for their concern and act on their complaint. Do you really want to take the chance of calling a stranger, not knowing how they will respond to your concern? Will it be taken seriously? Will they keep your name in confidence? Will this be more trouble than it’s worth? I mean is that not at least somewhat our thought process? People find it easier to call someone they know (and trust) when they see suspicious activity or crime. There is something about this personal connection that encourages people to reach out when they otherwise would not.

When I began my role as Chief, I asked myself what I could do in this position to benefit both the Department and city that we serve. The answer that kept poking me in the chest was to push regular patrol to develop more relationships in the community. Detectives have more time with personal interaction, and that work lends to developing these friendships. This is a bit harder in patrol because of both the quantity and type of workload. However, when we have an opportunity, it is worth us investing our time.

Anytime you make a change in an organization, you will face opposition. Some officers have even left because they could not accept the change in direction. More recently, I have even heard that some citizens are questioning this change in our policing. I mean who would argue that our police officers need to have better relationships in the community it serves? The answer is those who have an “us versus them” mentality. This type of mentality causes division and strife. The fact of the matter is that modern policing is constantly changing. Laws change, court decisions, police culture changes, generational changes and society cultural norms change as well. As an officer, you either adapt to these changes and persevere, or you find something else to do.

I can tell you another person who is concerned about our police officers developing these helpful relationships in our community: the criminal. There is a small percentage of people who victimize others in our community. They may be involved in many activities, but the guns, the gangs and the drugs are among the most deadly. They use their intimidation to pressure people not to report, not to testify, not to be a witness or not to act at all.

At its root, I feel true public service will be the key to developing these relationships. We will do this one person at a time, but we have many officers. I expect this to take hold and we will make progress. We will use these relationships to better direct our efforts and step up our enforcement on those victimizing others. This is not a “feel-good” campaign. This is all about policing and partnering with the citizens we serve. To quote Ben Stein … “Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows.”

No, I am not interested in being weak on crime. I do not understand how people connect these relationships with being weak. Being weak on crime will not help the citizens, the department, the city or myself. In fact, I intend to do the opposite, but time will determine the outcome.

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