Where Have The Leaders Gone?

Law Enforcement Needs Them Now More Than Ever...

I was 21 years old when I was hired by the Tulsa Police Department and at age 22, I was working on my own in a city much larger than where I grew up (population 350). To say that I had no idea about leadership was an understatement. Not only was I trying to learn a profession, I was trying to learn life, which can be difficult for any 22 year old that thinks they know everything.

Sergeant Larry Clayton was my first sergeant. While I had no choice in the matter, he definitely didn’t. As a sergeant myself in the years to come, I would find out that getting the fresh rookie out of the academy was more like a punishment than a prize but nevertheless, there I was and he served as nothing more than an obstacle for me to change the proverbial world.

Appearing to be 75 years old, Sergeant Clayton was a Vietnam Veteran and a hard dude. He demanded a lot, didn’t smile much and his general grumpy demeanor did not impress at the time. But something else didn’t sit right with me. He reminded me of my dad without the full time grumpiness and the leather skin. My father was a Marine, Vietnam Veteran, a cop, and a hard dude.

Sergeant Larry Clayton (50 Years Before I Met Him)

I had a great childhood and great parents but what 21 year old kid doesn’t want to get out the house and live the life they think they know everything about? I had worked hard to do that. I went to college, got a job, and moved two hours away only to work for a guy just like my dad 40 plus hours a week. In fact, it was worse than my dad, who worked a lot.

I saw Larry more and he annoyed me more.

As the years went by, I moved to other assignments and other ranks and Larry retired a few years after we met. Come to find out, I wasn't an expert at life when I worked for Larry and that caused a host of wrong opinions at the time.

First, Larry may have looked 105 years old but he was in his 40’s. I’m certain I am correct about his grumpiness but he had some characteristics that I did not value at the time.

Sergeant Larry Clayton demanded a lot from his officers but he also gave a lot.

When the administration came down on one of us unjustly, Larry would go to war with them. When the media painted one of his officers falsely, Larry called them out and said words to reporters that I can’t even repeat. We knew that as long as we followed our policy, Larry had our back…no matter what.

This style of leadership didn’t exactly place Larry in the best of positions with management, proven by his evening patrol shift supervision of young cops while the other “old guys” had cushion assignments. But he didn’t care and he mentioned it at least once a shift.

And when it came to policy, Larry would sometimes deal with that differently. He knew the difference between a mistake and an intentional act. Larry didn’t spend countless hours writing up his officers or calling Internal Affairs for minor indiscretions but often times, we wish he did.

No one wanted to piss the ole’ sarge off. He had ways to make sure you would never make a mistake again and at the end of the shift, you always knew he was all in for you. He was hard, grizzled, supportive, and he cared.

He would yell at me one day and come to my wedding the next.

Sergeant Larry Clayton was a leader.

You’ve likely never heard of Larry Clayton but his impact on my life was immeasurable and he no doubt ruined my image of what a leader should be. Like Cal Ripken Jr. winning the World Series in 1983 to never go back, I rarely saw a leader of that prominence again.

That Was Then

A lot has changed in law enforcement since Larry was my sergeant but the definition of leadership has not changed and I can’t help but think that if law enforcement professionals worked for leaders like Sergeant Larry Clayton, we would not be in an environment with recruitment, retention and morale low along with crime up.

Today, rather than defend cops that follow the rules, we blame them or arrest them.

Rather than hold the liars against us accountable, we pay them.

Rather than a leadership style that places the prominence on coaching, mentoring, and improvement, we micro-manage every facet of a cop’s job, making sure that all those petty discipline actions make it to the resume of the leader for their next con job in another city.

Rather than caring for the individual officer, we treat them like a number that we need just to fill a spot.

Rather than building a positive organizational culture to nurture retention, we simply throw out bonus dollars like an animal auction to fill our ranks.

Leadership Reimagined

Reimagining is popular these days but you would be crazy to believe it’s brought anything positive to the profession or the communities that are served. So I have another idea.

It’s time to start actually leading again.

I dare you…Try it and see what happens.

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Dr. Travis Yates retired as a commander with a large municipal police department after 30 years of service. He is the author of “The Courageous Police Leader: A Survival Guide for Combating Cowards, Chaos & Lies.” His risk management and leadership seminars have been taught to thousands of professionals across the world. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy with a Doctorate Degree in Strategic Leadership and the CEO of the Courageous Police Leadership Alliance.