Why Driving Police Reform is Nearly Impossible without a New Learning Culture.

Promoting a learning environment

Education?in the?law enforcement?field has been long debated. As the profession faces increased scrutiny in the wake of the recent incidents, the need for a highly educated police force is once again being called for. Per research, about one third (30.2 percent) of?police?officers in the United States have a four-year college degree. A little more than half (51.8 percent) have a two-year degree, while 5.4 percent have a graduate degree.

I strongly believe that a college degree does lead to better policing. An educated officer who is able to think critically, and has a wider perspective, has the ability to consider more information when making those critical decisions.

My heart goes out to #TyreNicolas?and his loved ones. it's too late, the damage is done. But I am hopeful the nationwide debate on police using excessive force will lead to some concrete outcome. Today's police need 21st century skills that go beyond traditional police academy or undergraduate training.

Lack of unified data strategy & actionable insights

The police aren’t a single unit. As per the U.S Bureau of Justice Statistics there are more than?18,000 law enforcement agencies?scattered throughout the U.S. Each agency has varying legal and geographic jurisdictions, ranging from single-officer police departments to those with more than 30,000 officers. Part of the problem is that we don’t have a good way to measure or track the effects of dealing with the police on a day-to-day basis.

Lack of uniform crime reporting program and police employee data. And then there are problems with police reports as data sources. Despite of a public database of police misconduct records which is funny it’s not public, people in general don’t know it exists. To understand if a police reform is working, we need to formulate tangible questions that define the success goals and then identify what to measure and how to Measure.

It is no secret that organizations have been increasingly turning to advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve decision making across business processes. They allow organizations to take advantage of evidence-based insights to optimize all areas of operation -- from strategic planning to managing day-to-day operations. We know the LAW ENFORCEMENT system that we have now isn’t working for a lot of people. The lack of timely access to data is inhibiting informed action to address an issue. As such, agency and law enforcement leaders should invest in technologies to modernize data management and applications and commit to using them.

How to Change the Story about Students of Color/Black History Month

The importance of having teachers of color in classrooms cannot be overstated. Just dedicating an hour a day, once a year about Martin Luther King during?black history?month will not do justice to help learn the heritage and history of racial lineage and navigate through difficult conversations.

At a time when the demand for minority teachers is rising, the supply is falling. Despite many efforts, the number of minority teachers continues to decline. Among many reasons one of them is the declining numbers of?Black?and?Hispanic?students majoring in?education?relative to overall decline in education majors.

Some food for thought for?higher ed?leaders to think through initiatives to improve equity in schools and help draw more students of color into?teaching?careers.

The whole purpose of education is learning who you are and finding out what you value and respect. Public schools?teachers?in US are far less racially and ethnically?diverse?than their?students.

..........the system needs to be fixed from within.