The Professional Law Enforcement Assistants' Association.

Law enforcement agencies throughout the world recognize the importance of professionalism and have worked diligently to have the public view their departments, as well as their officers, as professionals. Many have included the core value of professionalism--which not only applies to sworn officers but extends to those employees who provide support services--either in their mission or vision statements.

While they endorse the concept, many departments struggle with how to meet training mandates for their sworn personnel, as well as how to keep officers abreast of changing trends. Along with these challenges, however, agencies also must make training opportunities available for their support staffs. Although law enforcement officers have the visible day-to-day contact with community members, support personnel prepare reports, answer phones, handle payrolls, and coordinate meetings--important jobs that hold agencies together. Professional development can help support employees better understand how their positions fit into the policing service delivery system and provides an opportunity for them to become refreshed and inspired. After all, the need to enhance their occupational skills and develop professionally proves equally important for law enforcement administrative personnel as for officers.

William James, a 20th century scholar, said, "Mankind does nothing save through initiatives on the part of inventors, great or small, and imitation by the rest of us--these are the sole factors active in human progress. Individuals of genius show the way, and set the patterns, which common people then adopt and follow. The rivalry of the patterns is the history of the world." (1) A small group of administrative support personnel from several Minnesota law enforcement agencies have taken that giant leap of faith and shown their agencies, chief executives, and officers that they have the initiative to be inventors.

The Beginning

In 1998, the FBI's Minneapolis office sponsored a 2-day seminar on professionalism. Although originally intended for FBI professional support employees, the coordinators decided to invite administrative support personnel from other law enforcement agencies in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area as well.

Several law enforcement administrative assistants realized that this seminar was the first time they and their peers had received relevant law enforcement training from someone who actually had performed comparable tasks (the instructor previously had served as a secretary in the FBI). Further, the instructor understood the uniqueness and importance of the duties that professional support employees perform. One participant advised, "[The instructor] was able to understand our questions in the context of law enforcement, she taught the class using law enforcement language, and she knew how to apply what she was teaching to our positions in the various police agencies."

During the first day of training, several participants agreed to get together for additional training in the future. Many had spoken to each other on the phone, coordinating meetings for the police administrators they worked with, but they never had met in person. The networking that began during breaks created the impetus to form an association. As a final learning activity during the seminar, participants wrote a letter to themselves stating what they learned during the 2 days and what steps they planned to take upon returning to their workplaces. The instructor then collected the letters and, 6 months later, mailed them back to the participants as a "self-check-in." One of the attendees had written in the letter to herself to start an organization of law enforcement professional support personnel throughout Minnesota.

In early 1999, eight of the original seminar participants began Minnesota's first association for law enforcement support personnel. They started by drafting a mission statement to 1) encourage and promote a high degree of skill and efficiency for the members, 2) provide relevant law enforcement training, 3) establish cumulative relationships through a strong networking system, 4) ensure more uniformity in their services, and 5) enable members to provide enhanced professional assistance to chief law enforcement officers and member departments, which, ultimately, would benefit communities they serve. Participants established a mailing list, began a letter campaign to gauge interest in the association, and decided to meet once a month to chart the course of their venture.

Next, the group agreed that their association needed a name. Members agreed that they wanted the word assistants in the title to be more inclusive of the varied positions and job titles held at their agencies and that the word professional was extremely important to them; they wanted to set the tone for their new organization. Subsequently, the Professional Law Enforcement Assistants' Association (PLEAA) was born.

Ideologies

PLEAA members identified professionalism as an important behavioral expectation and sought a way to define it as it pertained to their positions and what they hoped to accomplish through their organization. They determined that professionalism is an individual quality; employees who perform assigned tasks with great skill and pride, maintain high ethical standards, and exhibit a courteous, conscientious, and businesslike manner in the workplace typically define professionals. These attributes, skills, and even a sense of pride reflect positively on their departments. PLEAA members concluded that professionalism comes from within a person; no amount of money can buy it.

Members agreed that continual or life-long learning constitutes an important aspect of PLEAA. Because members' positions in law enforcement are unique, they have found it difficult to receive relevant training from the private sector. For example, not only do PLEAA members serve as administrative assistants but some are in charge of their department's property room, serve as record clerks, perform human resource functions, and even work on their departments' reconstruction projects. Further, some members search female prisoners in the absence of female officers and others have transported children in crisis to the local children's crisis center. Assistants' positions in law enforcement do not stay the same; changes in the courts and prosecutor's offices and adjustments that come with transitions in police administrations often impact their job-related duties.

PLEAA views networking as an extension of training. Members contact each other for help with specific issues, as well as to identify new ideas to bring back to their agencies. Training sponsored by PLEAA, as well as member networking, has greatly improved services to departments and communities. An added dimension to the training--scheduled field trips to a crime lab, a new county detention facility, the medical examiner's office, and a firearms range--has given members insight into areas previously unknown to them. Many of these employees had processed paperwork relative to these four law enforcement functions, but never had the opportunity to observe what happens outside the confines of their departments. The field trips offered PLEAA members a tool to network with individuals they have daily contact with and enabled them to understand the necessity for the large volume of paperwork/reports needed by each site. For example, the visit to the crime lab gave them a clearer understanding of the importance of properly handling evidence. Each member gained a new perspective and more respect for each of the agencies visited. They saw firsthand 1) how the medical examiner's office deals with victims and surviving family members, 2) the difficulties at the jail associated with properly guarding prisoners incarcerated for long periods of time, and 3) how well their own officers are prepared and properly trained at the firearms range.

PLEAA uses other networking/training tools as well. For example, the association publishes a quarterly newsletter, Information PLEAAse, and one PLEAA member writes regular columns that provide useful professionalism information. PLEAA distributes a yearly roster of all its members that includes their agency addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses, which helps everyone stay in touch. Both the newsletter and roster constitute key elements in PLEAA's networking process.

Results

PLEAA currently has approximately 250 people on their mailing list, consisting of 165 dues-paying members from 80 Minnesota agencies in 2003. PLEAA does not exclude people from attending their training session if their departments either will not or cannot pay the yearly membership dues. The only difference is that nondues-paying members pay a slightly higher registration fee for training sessions.

Many of the members' chiefs, sheriffs, and other top administrators have shown their strong support of PLEAA by providing law enforcement-related training; in some instances, they have conducted the training themselves. The professional relationship between PLEAA members and their executives continues to grow and develop. In early April 2003, chiefs in one Minnesota locality held their 4th annual luncheon; 85 percent of the departments brought their assistants. One assistant said that during the first chief's association meeting she only knew a couple of the assistants and about five chiefs. As a result of PLEAA, she now knows and networks with all of the assistant and about 75 percent of the chiefs.

The Rochester, Minnesota, Police Department hosted PLEAA's first 2-day conference in 2002. One instructor addressed motivation and others covered such topics as "The How and Why of Internal Affairs Investigations," "Self-defense Training," "Laser and AED Demonstrations," and "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know from Your Chief, But Were Afraid to Ask." Also, the first annual "Debra Beebe Outstanding Mentor Award" was presented to one chief for her support of PLEAA within chief's organizations during the association's developmental years.

Conclusion

Some of the original eight law enforcement assistants have taken other positions, but new, dedicated members have replaced them. One original member recently stated, "To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream; not only plan but also believe." It was not only their belief but the hard work, leadership, and vision of eight law enforcement assistants from Minnesota who helped form a professional organization for support personnel in policing. Through their dedication and initiative, PLEAA has filled a void in support training and networking, and it has created a forum to enhance those individuals who perform such a critical role for law enforcement organizations.

PLEAA not only has made history in Minnesota but also has made a difference in the entire law enforcement community. As professionals, agencies take many of the members more seriously because of their involvement in the organization. Further, members have raised their level of visibility with chiefs, sheriffs, and officers throughout their departments. The level of respect for these professionals has risen due to their commitment to continuing education and their willingness to learn more about and become more involved in the entire criminal justice system.

Endnotes

(1) William James, "The Social Value of the College-Bred," address delivered at a meeting of the Association of American Alumnae at Radcliffe College on November 7, 1907; retrieved on March 8, 2004, from http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/jaCollegeBred.html.

By Debra S. Beebe, M.Ed., and Joy Rikala, M.A.

Ms. Beebe, an instructional systems specialist, currently heads the FBI's Curriculum, Planning, and Evaluation Unit in the Office of Training and Development.

Chief Rikala is the director of public safety and the chief of police for the Minnetonka, Minnesota, Police Department.