Public Safety & Policing
The 2016 Public Safety Summit
Growing Capacity and Legitimacy
When & Where
April 29-1, 2016
Harvard University | Cambridge, MA

A Report, reflecting on and summarizing the sessions and insights that occured at this Summit, is now available for download.

Download Report

About the Summit

Overview

Today’s public safety leaders often feel squeezed in a vise. On one side pressure is ramping up to respond to evermore-complex crime and public safety threats such as natural disasters, violent extremism, and cybercrime. On the other side are pressing demands for citizen engagement, stakeholder collaboration, and community outreach. Policing leaders can feel torn: Should they focus on fighting crime efficiently? Or should they focus on growing public trust?

Forward-thinking public safety leaders realize that to build legitimacy the answer is “yes” – to improving both crime prevention and public trust. Yet to accomplish both objectives, public safety leaders will need to pursue innovations that increase organizational capacity. In a world of limited resources, finding the right mix of innovations will require grappling with tough questions, such as:

  • What innovative strategies and operating models can reduce operational costs and complexity, but also increase agility in policing structures, systems, and people?
  • How can digital tools such as social media, data, and analytics improve crime response, as well as engage the community in co-creation of public safety solutions?
  • What new recruitment and training methods will improve current capabilities and develop a pipeline for the leadership and skills needed in the future?
  • What type of leadership is needed to simultaneously build near-term operational capacity, facilitate change, and adapt organizational culture for the long-term?

To help public safety leaders work through and answer these challenging questions, Leadership for a Networked World and the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, in collaboration with Accenture, are convening The 2016 Public Safety Summit: Building Capacity and Legitimacy, to be held April 29 – May 1 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This 2nd annual Summit will bring together senior-most policing and public safety leaders to learn and share ideas on how police chiefs, sheriffs, commissioners and others, can not only respond to broadening responsibilities more efficiently and effectively, but also transform their organizations, operating models and cultures to deliver improved policing outcomes and legitimacy.

Who Should Attend?

Summit participants are senior-level public safety executives (Chief, Commissioner, Superintendent, Sheriff, etc.) in function, as well as “Chief Transformation Officers” in practice, who seek to improve organizational performance in the near term and redesign public safety for the long term.

Admission & Participation

The Summit is an invitation-only program for senior-most officials in public safety. Other applicants will be reviewed and accepted on a case-by-case basis, and according in part, to space availability. This event is supported by the hosting and collaborating organizations, so there is no tuition or fee to attend*. Travel and hotel arrangements, and related expenses, are the responsibility of individual participants.

The Executive Leadership Group

Art Acevedo
Chief of Police
Houston Police Department
James Craig
Chief of Police
Detroit Police Department
Janeé Harteau
Chief of Police
Minneapolis Police Department
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe
Commissioner
Metropolitan Police Service (London)
Cathy Lanier
Chief of Police
Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia
Jim McDonnell
Sheriff
Los Angeles County
Nóirín O'Sullivan
Commissioner
An Garda Siochana, Ireland
Kathleen O'Toole
Chair
Executive Leadership Group; Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland
Dermot Shea
Deputy Commissioner, Operations
New York City Police Department
Scott Thomson
Chief of Police
Camden County Police Department
Eric Ward
Chief of Police
Tampa Police Department
Chuck Wexler
Executive Director
Police Executive Research Forum

Previous Reports

Leadership in Turbulent Times: A Report from 2018 Public Safety Summit

Go to Report

As the pace and power of social, political, and technological change accelerate in the world, citizens and stakeholders expect everything to happen faster – including the transformation of public safety and policing organizations.

This pace of change also creates a turbulent environment in which policing leaders have to manage the “political economy” surrounding them – including the competing demands of stakeholder groups, the need for delivering innovative new policing models, and the mandate to improve public trust and safety.

At The 2018 Public Safety Summit: Leadership in Turbulent Times, convened by Leadership for a Networked World and the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard in collaboration with Mark43, public safety leaders showed how they have been able to improve operationally, learn valuable lessons about their communities, and begin to chart a pathway forward for modern policing.

The Dynamics of Culture and Capacity: A Report from 2017 Public Safety Summit

Go to Report

Amidst a turbulent environment, innovative public safety leaders are moving forward to achieve dramatic new levels of capacity and public value. Right now, for example, visionary police chiefs are redesigning use-of-force policy and training to improve crime response and build community trust. Cutting-edge public safety organizations are using social networks, data, and analytics to understand crime patterns and respond proactively to community needs. And inventive policing leaders are collaborating across agencies, jurisdictions, and sectors to co-create solutions to community challenges.

Yet for even the savviest leaders, often the most challenging roadblock on their transformation journey is organizational resistance to change. How do leaders in public safety address this challenge? Skillful leaders realize that driving innovation and change requires not only redesigning organizational structures, systems, processes, and human capital, but also harmonizing organizational culture with new ways of working, collaborating, and producing public value.

To help public safety leaders work through the day's challenging questions, Leadership for a Networked World and the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, in partnership with Mark43, convened The 2017 Public Safety Summit: The Dynamics of Culture and Capacity from April 21 – 23 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This third annual Summit brought together innovative public safety, justice, and human services leaders, along with leading academics and industry experts, to learn and share ideas on how police chiefs, sheriffs, commissioners, and other officials can not only respond to broadening responsibilities more efficiently and effectively, but also transform their organizations, partnerships, operating models, and cultures to deliver improved policing outcomes and legitimacy.

Growing Capacity and Legitimacy: A Report from 2016 Public Safety Summit

Go to Report

For public safety leaders around the world, one thing is clear: while the basic mandate of maintaining law and order remains the same, the environment in which this mandate must be delivered is changing dynamically. Fueling this turbulent environment are powerful changes in public sentiment, demographics and social issues, pervasive and invasive technologies, and complex threats to community safety.

What’s imperative now is that public safety leaders gain an understanding of how to create newfound capacity for the future, outcomes and value that communities want, and the legitimacy that society demands.

To help public safety leaders address these questions and develop a vision for the future of public safety, Leadership for a Networked World and the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, in collaboration with Accenture, convened The 2015 Public Safety Summit: Leadership for a New Era at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Leadership for a New Era: A Report from 2015 Public Safety Summit

Go to Report

For public safety leaders around the world, one thing is clear: while the basic mandate of maintaining law and order remains the same, the environment in which this mandate must be delivered is changing dynamically. Fueling this turbulent environment are powerful changes in public sentiment, demographics and social issues, pervasive and invasive technologies, and complex threats to community safety.

What’s imperative now is that public safety leaders gain an understanding of how to create newfound capacity for the future, outcomes and value that communities want, and the legitimacy that society demands.

To help public safety leaders address these questions and develop a vision for the future of public safety, Leadership for a Networked World and the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, in collaboration with Accenture, convened The 2015 Public Safety Summit: Leadership for a New Era at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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