The world is increasingly becoming borderless, requiring police executives to consistently think globally while acting locally. Events taking place halfway around the world have the potential to evolve into local policing issues. We have witnessed political instability and conflict in one jurisdiction resulting in a humanitarian crisis and mass migration in neighbouring countries, stretching local resources to the breaking point, and a terrorist incident in one jurisdiction being linked to a spike in hate crimes in another.

All police executives—regardless of jurisdiction, uniform, and background —are routinely confronted with similar challenges when leading police services in the 21st century: exponential growths in cybercrime; mass casualty events; constant calls for increased transparency and accountability in policing; interventions with individuals experiencing mental health crises; the introduction of disruptive technologies in the workplace; the need to safeguard officer health and wellness; and so forth. This complex and constantly evolving environment requires police leaders share their experiences and best practices.

The IACP is well positioned to support police executives in responding to these challenges. Committed to “shaping the future of the policing profession,” the IACP boasts an impressive membership of some 31,000 individuals from 152 nations. However, despite this large and growing global membership, it remains true that the majority of the IACP’s membership does reside in North America. As a result, the IACP’s ability to genuinely represent the interests of policing leaders globally has been limited by the absence of international representation and diversity. However, that is changing.

For several years, the IACP has been focused on enhancing its global focus. In fact, during his address at the 2019 IACP Annual Conference and Exposition, IACP President Paul M. Cell emphasized these efforts by committing to “increasing the IACP’s international footprint by leveraging the voice of international police leaders to inform public policy, professionalize police leadership, and improve IACP member services.”¹ In support of this goal, the IACP has taken a number of actions.

First, President Cell recently launched his Plus One Campaign to increase the IACP’s global network.² Current IACP members are encouraged to recruit at least one new member into the association, and President Cell has been aggressively promoting the Plus One Campaign during his international outreach activities.

Second, President Cell has been working closely with IACP’s committee chairs to ensure that at least three appointments on each committee are reserved for non-U.S. members. Increased international representation will strengthen the diversity of committee deliberations and ensure that forthcoming resolutions are supportive and reflective of the diverse needs of policing across the globe.

Finally, the IACP Board of Directors has established a task force to conduct a sweeping review of the Global Policing Division and international member services. The Global Policing Division (GPD) was established under the IACP Constitution over two decades ago “to provide a strategic plan for the international programs and activities of the IACP.”³ However, it has been observed that the GPD is not well aligned with current IACP governance, and it has had limited success in fulfilling its mandate.

The task force—composed of representatives from the Caribbean, Europe, Western Pacific, and North America—has been directed to explore options to better integrate the voice and influence of the global policing community into the IACP’s strategic planning, policy development, and governance processes. The task force is narrowing its focus to analyze two concepts: (1)creating an International Subcommittee under the Board of Directors and (2) forming a new division of national/regional associations of chiefs of police. The task force is also expected to bring forward recommendations on other measures to improve services to international members such as expanded translation services, virtual meeting capabilities, and technologies to facilitate global collaboration.

Throughout its history, the IACP has served as a credible and influential global policing institution. But, like the complex world that surrounds it, the IACP must continuously evolve to ensure it is responding to the diverse needs of its global constituents. It is for these reasons that the IACP is taking tangible and decisive actions to enhance the “I” in IACP.

Notes: 

¹ Paul M. Cell, “The Year Ahead,” President’s Message, Police Chief 85, no. 11 (2018): 6–7. 

² IACP, Plus One Campaign.  

³ IACP, “Global Policing Division,” Rule and Policy Manual, 77–84. 

Please cite as:

Joe Oliver, “Enhancing the ‘I’ in the IACP,” IACP@Work, Police Chief 86, no. 4 (April 2019): 86–87.