IACP 2010: Chiefs should make late night calls to the mayor

At a standing-room-only panel discussion during IACP 2010 in Orlando, Chief Dave Banaszynski of the Shorewood (Wisc.) Police Department shared a tip that can be used by just about any police leader who wants to maintain a good working relationship with the local elected officials and municipal managers: call them at night!

Seems counter-intuitive, but making a late night phone call is likely to serve you well in the near- and long-term future, despite it being an unpleasant and unwanted experience at time of the call.

Banaszynski, whose 25 sworn officers work in the most densely-populated town in the state — with about 13,000 people living in a one-square-mile area — said, “If you know your community or your department is going to be on TV or in the newspaper the next morning, call your village manager, your mayor, your council member at home that night, and say, ‘Hey, I just wanted you to know, just so you’re aware, we’re going to be on TV tomorrow and there might be a camera truck out in front of the building.’ That mayor or that council member is going to be so grateful when he walks up to the building and he knows about what’s happening and that person sticks a microphone in their face. Was that call politically motivated for you to make that call? Yes, sure it was, but that will help when the time comes to get your budget passed.”