As police leaders, it is our duty to ensure that our agencies and officers are thriving. in that context, part of our focus must always be on monitoring and providing opportunities for the next generation of leaders to learn, grow, and continue to gain experience so they confidently position themselves for roles of greater responsibility and impact.

When we focus on developing the leaders of tomorrow, we ensure proper succession planning for our agencies and communities for a time when we will move on, so that the important work we are doing continues.

For the IACP, it is the same—we all need to take an active role in identifying and preparing future leaders so they and the association can continue to shape the future of the policing profession.

As Winston Churchill said:

To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.

That is why the IACP is calling on you, as police leaders, to help us identify future leaders and encourage them to take a more active role within the association. This support may take the form of recommending them for a position on the IACP Board of Directors or a position on one of the IACP’s 27 committees; encouraging them to take an active role in IACP’s sections or divisions; or suggesting they volunteer to be on a working group or task force. Ultimately, we strive to see more members seek elected office to bring a more diverse perspective to the Executive Board—and the time to help prepare our association’s future leaders is now.

At the IACP, we have made diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) a primary focus—demonstrated by both our words and our actions—and this certainly comes into play as we seek to develop and identify future leaders.

In 2018, the IACP board established the IACP Diversity Task Force to assess the association’s diversity efforts, map future strategies, and ensure that diversity and inclusion are hallmarks of the IACP. The work of this task force resulted in a variety of efforts, including updating the IACP’s Constitution, which governs the work of the association, to emphasize that DEI is a foundational and core value of the IACP.

Further, the task force’s direction required a greater emphasis on our efforts to recruit diverse membership into the association, an assessment of all of the IACP’s external communications and products and the work of our committees, and the identification of leading practices to enhance DEI efforts.

In 2020, the IACP established the Women in Policing Task Force, which was chaired by then-president Cynthia Renaud. The task force identified leading practices, barriers, and strategies for enhancing gender diversity, both in the profession as a whole and within the IACP leadership.

Just last year, we convened a subcommittee of board members from diverse backgrounds who hold or have held elected office in other policing associations or elected office within the IACP to gauge the inclusiveness of our electoral process and identify any barriers to inclusiveness.

The outcomes of these efforts included being intentional with every association presentation about how to get involved and forge a path into IACP leadership and ensuring the board members and others in influential positions are encouraged to “tap someone on the shoulder” to proactively engage emerging police leaders for potential appointed or elected positions.

“The IACP is calling on you… to help us identify future leaders.”

Our efforts remain ongoing and focused on systemic and structural changes to enhance diversity and inclusion. For example, this summer, the board modified the composition requirement for the IACP Board of Directors, removing constraints based on outdated and overly prescriptive requirements that artificially limited the IACP president’s options in appointments. Further, to help guide the president’s appointments, we also implemented a board of directors composition matrix to identify representation gaps that need to be addressed.

Most recently, the IACP Executive Board held its annual strategic planning meeting, and a large part of the agenda was on the continued focus of embracing and encouraging diversity of our elected leadership and building out a roadmap to ensure the institutionalization of these efforts. As a result, we will be reconvening a subcommittee to identify and address known barriers or impediments to seeking positions and being a candidate for IACP office and seeking ways to develop a nominations task force.

While much has been done, much remains to be done, and our efforts won’t stop. My hope is that those of you reading this President’s Message will be inspired to help. I urge each of you to proactively seek out those who you think will be the leaders of tomorrow; make that “tap on the shoulder”; and identify candidates who represent diversity in gender, ethnicity, race, geography, and experience in your spheres of influence who could serve in these positions. Have a conversation with potential future leaders about the importance of serving in any IACP role of elected or appointed leadership and how it benefits not only them but their agencies and their communities. In having those conversations, if you hear of hesitancy or any impediments, please communicate those back to me and the IACP so we can continue to evolve our process and enhance our efforts in identifying the leaders of tomorrow and enhancing the global policing profession.

To ensure we have diverse leadership in the future that reflects our association membership and, more widely, our profession, we must act now. 🛡

Please cite as

John Letteney, “The Time to Enhance Diversity Is Now,” President’s Message, Police Chief 90, no. 1 (2023): 6–7.