By Kevin Meyer
A story in this morning's paper on our new San Luis Obispo sheriff, Ian Parkinson, begins with the following story:
On a recent Saturday night, sheriff’s Sgt. Aaron Nix was covering a shift at the main office off Highway 1 in San Luis Obispo when someone unexpected walked in the door.
Sheriff Ian Parkinson.
“I asked him if he typically comes in, in his uniform on a Saturday night, to see what the watch commander is doing,” Nix said. Parkinson replied that he had been speaking to some citizens in Cambria and decided to stop by on his way home. “I told him to ‘Get out of here, it’s a Saturday night,’ ” said Nix, who also serves on the executive committee of the Association of San Luis Obispo County Deputy Sheriffs.
Instead, Parkinson wandered over to the jail and visited with correctional deputies for more than an hour.
“I’ve been here 24 years, and there hasn’t been a sheriff walking around on a Saturday night,” said Correctional Sgt. Mike Thompson, president of the Deputy Sheriffs Association. “That’s huge.”
The new sheriff went to the gemba, to where value is being created. A little bit of a different perspective in the law enforcement area, but a jail still provides value to the community. The examples don't end there.
A good leader or manager first spends time to truly understand the facts.
And he’s held more than three dozen meetings with supervisory-level employees and employee groups, whose suggestions he’ll use to create a list of priorities. Eventually, they’ll become a strategic plan to guide the department for the next three to four years.
“I think people are very optimistic in regard to what’s coming,” said Deputy Neil Clayton, president of the Association of San Luis Obispo County Deputy Sheriffs. “It’s obvious that he intends to make changes, but he’s taking his time to find out the root of the problems.”
Some of those changes may not be popular, Clayton said, but manageable if people understand the reasoning behind them.
Some facts may not be what's expected. We don't exactly have a lot of crime in this county – the police blotter sections of the paper are generally filled with "grandma heard a strange noise but it turned out to be a creaky door" type reports. But there's some. For example the popular perception that hard drugs lead to violence, when sometimes the opposite is true.
Other issues will soon claim Parkinson’s attention — including medical marijuana, brought into focus by the arrest of 15 people in late December after an investigation by the county’s Narcotics Task Force. Parkinson, who was not yet on the job then, said he wasn’t aware of the investigation. But since taking office, he has become more familiar with the legal arguments surrounding medical marijuana.
Some community members have urged Parkinson to pay more attention to methamphetamine-related problems. He acknowledged the drug’s damaging effects but noted that in the past two years there have been about 10 reports of home-invasion robberies related to marijuana or medical marijuana — and none related to meth.
Communicating is also a key part of the job.
Some of those changes may not be popular, Clayton said, but manageable if people understand the reasoning behind them.
Parkinson said he’ll hold community meetings around the county to share his plans with the public. He’s already started attending meet-and-greets and other public events. Jerry Lenthall, a member of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Advisory Council, said he appreciates Parkinson’s outreach to the community.
Going to the gemba to understand what is really happening, digging for facts especially when they contradict popular perception, developing a strategy, and communicating that strategy to stakeholders and customers. That's leadership, law enforcement style.
Chet Frame says
Good post, Kevin. Thank you.