Uvalde aftermath: In this policing era, what does leadership look like?
In high school, Joel Shults’ friendship with the mayor’s son led to an offer from a local police officer: “‘Why don’t you come along for a ride?’
“I did a ride-along with a crusty old sergeant, and it was the most amazing, brilliant, beautiful thing that I’d ever seen,” says Mr. Shults, author of “The Badge and the Brain.” “I just got eaten up with wanting to be a police officer.”
He has since spent nearly five decades in law enforcement. Mr. Shults has served in roles from chief to chaplain.
His squad car snapshot – grizzled sarge winking at the next generation – is part of America’s cultural consciousness. It’s a transferal of not just knowledge, but possibility and responsibility, says Mr. Shults, who now lives in Colorado: You will see some stuff. It could be beautiful. It probably will be ugly. But we’ll handle it. Seriously, we got this.
Such willingness to lead when the chips are down – to even, in rare instances, run toward gunfire – is a big part of why Gallup consistently finds that Americans put more faith in police officers’ honesty and ethics, with 53% of the country saying they have a very high or high level of trust. (Nurses were first on the list, and political lobbyists came in last.)
A recent string of mass shootings has
