On behalf of the leadership of the Junior Police Academy, greetings.READ Leadership Manual as PDF

As many of you know, or will hopefully soon discover, leading a youth program, even one as flexible and accommodating as the Junior Police Academy, requires enthusiasm, innovation, planning and planning.

Oh, and did I mention it takes planning?

Well it’s true you know – “fail to plan and plan to fail.”

Or, in the case of the Junior Police Academy – “plan to fail in front of twenty to thirty kids who just seconds earlier thought YOU had it altogether.”

Why it’s enough to make you actually read the manual!

Which is my way of welcoming you to “JPA: The Leadership Manual.”  

As that title suggests, we did not squander enthusiasm or innovation on the cover page. This manual treats both as perishable commodities that are too often consumed en-route to creating an operable plan.

And you will be needing a fresh reserve of both enthusiasm and innovation. Completing this guide is just beginning. It will help you will build the foundation, upon which you will lay proud claim to the most dynamic and democratically vital profession in the world – American law enforcement.

Comprehensive, yet [mercifully] concise, this manual speaks in an informal voice, my own. My wish is to keep the text readable and the ideas clear.

Along the way you will be hearing from the many law enforcement officers who pioneered the Junior Police Academy.

Just as they have over the past 20 years, they will be interrupting me from time to time to explain how they broke or rewrote each rule and procedure stated herein – creating something uniquely, wonderfully their own.

That is, after all, the promise of the Junior Police Academy, to bring young people and police officers together and then stand back.

The essential quality of what happens next cannot be found in this or any other manual. It defies description. I do know it has the power to transcend the distance that once defined cops and kids with a brand of idealism that’s uniquely American and, at least to my way of thinking, essential to both liberty and democracy – an enthusiasm for justice!

So sharpen your pencil and let’s get started.

Phillip LeConte