How Did Chief Davis Benefited His Department

Chief Davis exhibits many external focuses which in my opinion benefited his department more than they harmed it. While Chief Fortier was more focused on the internal roles he thought necessary to make positive lasting changes in his department. This is not to say Chief Fortier was unsuccessful in all areas or that Chief Davis was successful in all areas. Each Chief took the route he believed would be the most effective at making the changes they saw as most important and each went about it differently. The internal focuses displayed by Chief Fortier centered around making managerial changes to the department he believed would be well received and address weak points he had either identified himself or had been advised of through the management

Chief Fortier made internal changes to policy and procedure with a new emphasis on how things were to be done in a more organized manner to include the way warrants were obtained and the allocation of vehicles in the patrol division. These measures were not well received by the department and when the Chief cut court overtime the all out adversarial dynamic between the officers and the Chief was an all out war. Chief Fortier attempted to deal with the police union regarding labor agreements and his agenda for the future but was met with extreme push-back. Dealing with Labor Unions is an external role that is one of the few attempts made by Chief Fortier to be externally focused. The police union ultimately felt that the Chief was against the interests of the officers and the mission became getting Chief Fortier out of office which would make the next five years a hard battle to make positive lasting change. Fortier failed to seize opportunities to improve the communication between the community and the city government which was another missed external opportunity. Though Chief Fortier wanted to make improvements from an internal focus he missed

By appropriately judging the needs of the department and city as a whole Chief Davis was able to make a better received change that united the city as well as the department. This is counterintuitive to me as I would think that an internal focus would be better for lasting change but in this case the needs of the city and department dictated outreach and sharing of ideas. Chief Davis embraces one of the most fundamental aspects of a police executive, reaching out and securing support/resources required for successful performance (Cordner, 2016). Filling the role of Chief includes taking on the role of the political go mediator concerning the community/government and the police department itself. Chief Davis must garner support from the city who at this point thought of the police as an “occupying army” rather than an intricate necessary part of a successful thriving Lowell community. Chief Davis made every effort to improve the police department in a way that would also improve the relationship between the police and the policed. Chief Davis used his position to bring the community together and when the community began to become too controlling of the agenda, Davis seized an opportunity to further draw the community together while also gaining better control of the agenda going forward. Chief Davis showed internal leadership when he