Neil Dubord: Chief Constable of Delta Police Department

When is the last time you conducted a full organizational review of your agency?  For some, the answer is never.  For Chief Neil Dubord of the Delta Police Department (Canada), it is something he does every four years.  What is he looking to evaluate? Core services, workload analysis, and return on investment.  Well, he will provide a lot more detail, but in short, those few things can reveal functional inefficiencies within an organization.  It is not just about finding areas for improvement; it is about building upon success.  

The trends in policing are shifting at a pace that is often underestimated and unanticipated.  It is incumbent upon police leaders to look inward, to closely scrutinize long-held beliefs about what we do and why we do it.  Sometimes the outside world changes, and not paying attention will leave us at odds with our communities and cloud our vision and purpose.  

Chief Dubord is also centered on the “whole officer.”  A culture of care that looks to build the organization around individual optimization.  Here at the Coptimizer Podcast, that is at the core of our work.  He has a saying, “From hire to retire, come in strong and leave stronger.”  He talked about these issues, and many more, on his “Bend, Don’t Break” Podcast.  

We talked a lot about where policing is headed in North America.  There were a lot of nuggets of wisdom that Chief Dubord shared in our conversation.  But the one thing that was clear in everything was his love for the profession and his desire to give back and teach.  The Covid era created many gaps in communities and police communication across agencies.  My biggest takeaway?  It is really time to double down and focus on growing our profession and “professionalizing” policing.  Share information, be innovative, and provide the resources to make policing the best possible.

Young leaders don’t miss this opportunity to learn from someone who has been there and done that and is still looking to do more!

You can watch this podcast on our YouTube channel by clicking here.