Michael Burgess

“Real public safety begins when we care enough to see harm before it happens — and accept that preventing it belongs to all of us.” This quote reflects much of what I have come to believe through my experience, education, and real-world view of public safety. Too often, when people hear “public safety,” they immediately think of law enforcement. And make no mistake, law enforcement plays an incredibly important and necessary role. Police officers respond to danger, protect victims,...

By Inv./Sgt. Michael S. Burgess, M.S.S. (ret.) Toxicity inside a police agency rarely starts as an official policy problem. More often, it starts in the places leadership does not always see: the squad room, the report room, the parking lot, text threads, ride-alongs, social circles, side conversations, and the quiet moments between calls. It can come from a senior officer who has become cynical. It can come from an FTO who teaches new officers to distrust every initiative before they fully...

Why evidence-based and problem-oriented policing must be translated into practical, everyday police work Law enforcement has always changed. Sometimes that change happens gradually through leadership, training, experience, and research. Other times, it happens suddenly after a major incident, public pressure, or civil unrest. Either way, the profession has never stayed the same. That does not make change easy. Cops work in a difficult profession. They face danger, uncertainty, criticism,...