Q&A with Chief Harold Medlock (ret.)

The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services’ (COPS Office) Collaborative Reform Initiative (CRI) assists law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve in identifying and implementing organizational improvements through training, consultation, peer-based learning, analysis, and in-depth assessments.

To better understand the benefits that CRI has to offer agencies, the CRI team reached out to retired Fayetteville (North Carolina) Chief Harold Medlock to discuss his experience with the CRI Organizational Assessment (OA) program with the Fayetteville Police Department (FPD).

Q: Could you tell us about your experiences with CRI-OA?

A: Overall, CRI was a positive experience for us that led to lasting changes in the department’s policies, procedures, and relationship with the community. I can’t say enough good things about the CNA team who worked with us. The CNA team was truly collaborative from their first site visit, meeting with my staff and me. Even though we pursued the Collaborative Reform Initiative with the COPS office, we were a bit apprehensive about the team, what they would find, and how they would recommend and report their findings.

We were pleasantly surprised to learn that the CNA team and the process was not about ‘gotcha’ findings. They shared their findings and reviews during site visit discussions and phone conferences with my staff and me.

The program improved, clarified, and strengthened use of force policies, procedures, reporting and training; improved and clarified roles and responsibilities for investigating officers involved deadly uses of force; and improved the investigative/interview techniques of officer involved shooting (OIS) internal investigators involved in an OIS.

It also completely revised the chain of command review and review board for all officer complaints; revised the chain of command review board for the most serious misconduct investigations and OIS cases; and provided training to all supervisory and command staff regarding responsibilities and expectations on chain of command review.

Q: How was your community involved in the CRI-OA process?

A: FPD opened its training to the community and to community members who were interested in auditing or viewing the actual training provided to officers and employees. For example, FPD included community members and FSU students to participate in the Fair and Impartial Policing training with a combination of community members and FPD officers and employees.

Q: How did your participation in CRI-OA help build trust between your department and your community?

A: During the program, FPD established a Chief’s Advisory Group made up of Community Group Leaders and non-community group engaged citizens and developed four separate Chief’s Youth Advisory Councils in four Senior High Schools in Fayetteville. This was one of the most successful recommendations from the Collaborative Reform Initiative. It provided me with direct conversations and understanding with the city’s youth. Additionally, each police division was required to establish a Commander’s Advisory Group. The FPD increased its community groups participation from approximately 24 to nearly 50 community groups in two years. These groups provided great input and feedback into FPD policy, procedure, and training.

Q: How did the CRI-OA process affect your approaches to policy?

A: The Collaborative Reform Initiative led to a complete revision and strengthening of every department policy, procedure, and directive. Every department policy, procedure, and directive was reviewed specifically by those departmental personnel who were most closely responsible for the issue with instructions to research professional best practices and provide recommendations to command staff. Then, led by the chief, the recommendations reviewed, revised, and ratified as part of the new policy.

Q: What are your thoughts on the recent updates to the Organizational Assessment process?

A: Our experience with the program was very positive. The CNA team provided insight into the needs and shortfalls of the FPD that we were able to address. However, the latest iteration of Organizational Assessment has improved the process even more! I think agencies will really benefit from receiving research backed recommendations in real time so that they can begin implementing changes immediately.

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The Collaborative Reform Initiative-Organizational Assessment (CRI-OA), which provides the most comprehensive form of technical assistance on the COPS Office Continuum of TA Services, is now available. We invite you to learn more about CRI-OA and submit a request for assistance.

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