The CopDoc Podcast: Aiming for Excellence in Leadership

The CopDoc Podcast - Season 9 - Episode 169
EPISODE SUMMARY:
Steve Morreale sits down with Captain Dr. Heather Glogolich of the NJIT Police Department in Newark, New Jersey, for a candid, deeply personal, and professionally rich conversation about what it means to lead in policing today. Heather brings more than 22 years of law enforcement experience, an EdD focusing on domestic violence and higher education, and a hard-won perspective on what it takes not just to survive in a male-dominated profession, but to thrive in it and bring others along.
Heather speaks openly about her journey from the Morris County Sheriff's Office to patrol officer, lieutenant, and now captain, including having to sue her agency to secure a promotion she had earned. Rather than letting that experience define her bitterness, she channeled it into a commitment to mentorship and transformational leadership. Her story is one of accountability, growth, and choosing to lead with love, even when the institution made that difficult.
The conversation ranges widely, from the real reasons women remain underrepresented in law enforcement leadership, to the operational risks of empathy, to why she believes the first day on the job should include leadership training. Heather challenges comfortable assumptions, pushes back thoughtfully on conventional DEI narratives, and delivers a message that will resonate with anyone trying to grow as a leader, regardless of rank, gender, or years on the job.
KEY TOPICS DISCUSSED:
How Heather's path from the Morris County Sheriff's Office to NJIT shaped her leadership philosophy
Women in policing leadership, the 30x30 initiative, and the real reasons representation remains low
Balancing being a great cop and a great parent without sacrificing either
Her personal experience as a survivor of domestic violence and how that shaped her doctoral research
The difference between sympathy and empathy, and why empathetic policing carries operational risk
Suing her agency to earn a promotion and what she did with the chip on her shoulder
Culture change within your sphere of control when you cannot change the whole organization
"Lead with love," servant leadership, and transformational leadership in practice
Why the first day on the job should include leadership training
How to mentor others while still seeking mentorship yourself, including her work with Simon Sinek's curve.org
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected] 

Website: www.copdocpodcast.com

If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]

The CopDoc Podcast - Season 9 - Episode 168
What does it take to go from a dirt road in Northeast Texas to leading one of the most progressive police departments in the country?
In this episode of The CopDoc Podcast, Dr. Steve Morreale sits down with Dr. Lance Arnold, Chief of Police in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Lance calls his journey "dirt road to doctorate," and that phrase captures something essential about who he is: a leader who never lost sight of where he came from, even as his thinking about leadership grew more sophisticated, more deliberate, and more people-centered with every passing year.
Lance spent 20 years at the Norman, Oklahoma Police Department before taking his first chief's job in Weatherford, Texas, and then moving to Broken Arrow. Along the way, he earned an Ed.D. in organizational leadership and built systems for developing leaders from the inside out. He arrived at a deceptively simple conviction: the job of a leader is to create conditions for people to flourish. Not just survive. Not just get to retirement unbroken. Flourish.
This conversation is one of the most substantive explorations of police leadership development you will find anywhere. Lance and Steve dig into why leadership training rarely sticks when the culture does not change around it, why most supervisors manage fires instead of preventing them, and why "we tried that in 1995, and it didn't work" may be the most dangerous sentence in policing. Lance is direct about his own early failures, honest about what it took to grow, and clear-eyed about the gap between what most agencies say they value and what they actually build systems to support.
If you are a leader at any level who has ever felt like you were swimming against the tide, this one is for you.
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected] 

Website: www.copdocpodcast.com

If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]

The CopDoc Podcast - Season 9 - Episode 167
What does it take to walk into four different agencies, each with its own culture and expectations, and lead effectively in all of them? Gina Hawkins has done exactly that — from the Atlanta Police Department where she came of age as a young officer, to Sandy Springs, Clayton County, Fayetteville, North Carolina, and now Cobb County's Sheriff's Office. Along the way she has learned that culture doesn't start inside the building. It starts with the community that either demands excellence or tolerates mediocrity.
In this conversation, Gina shares the hard lessons she picked up at each stop — managing stress that nearly broke her health, losing custody of her daughter the weekend the moving truck arrived as she headed to take command in Fayetteville, and still walking into that organization and pouring herself into the work. She talks about what it means to develop leaders, why women belong in policing at every level, and why the absence of universal standards for 18,000 law enforcement agencies is one of the most pressing problems in the profession.
This episode is candid, personal, and practical. Gina Hawkins doesn't give you theory — she gives you earned wisdom.
KEY TOPICS DISCUSSED:
How culture is shaped by the community before it is ever shaped by the chief
Leading through personal crisis while commanding a new organization
What it's like to be the outsider hired over the heads of internal candidates
The importance of women in policing and Cobb County's annual Women's Summit
Her experience on the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and why the lack of universal standards remains a critical gap
The role of transparency, accountability, and body cameras in rebuilding public trust
What retirement looks like when you can't stop serving
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected] 

Website: www.copdocpodcast.com

If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]

Season 9 - Episode 166 - The CopDoc Podcast
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected] 

Website: www.copdocpodcast.com

If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]

Season 9 - Episode 166 - The CopDoc Podcast
What does it take to lead a police department through tragedy, transformation, and tremendous change? Chief Jeremy Story of the Las Cruces Police Department in New Mexico knows firsthand.
A Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, Jeremy joined policing in 2007 after choosing family over a military career. He rose through the ranks touching nearly every division—SWAT commander, K-9 handler, gang unit sergeant, training director, and deputy chief—before becoming chief at a younger age than he expected.
In this powerful conversation, Chief Story talks about:
Leadership That Teaches: How he runs a command staff book club (yes, really) and why teaching is a critical part of being a chief
The Toughest Year: Losing the department's first officer in the line of duty in 96 years, then losing their first officer to suicide two months later—and what they learned about officer wellness
Evidence-Based Policing: Implementing stratified policing to make proactive work as normal as answering 911 calls
Training Investment: Why he sent a patrol officer to a three-week leadership course and how the department nearly doubled the state's required academy hours
Telling the Story: Speaking to hostile crowds, correcting false narratives, and why chiefs must educate the public
Humility & Vulnerability: Sharing his biggest mistake with academy recruits and why admitting failures builds trust
Preparing the Next Generation: How Las Cruces PD rotates officers through specialized units for a month to prepare them for promotion
Civilianization Done Right: Using civilians for everything that doesn't require a badge—and why their legal advisor and former news anchor PIO are game-changers
Chief Story is direct, thoughtful, and unafraid to challenge the status quo. He's a thought leader who believes the majority is rational—if you give them the right information. He's building something special in the New Mexico desert.
Whether you're a new supervisor, a seasoned chief, or someone considering a career in law enforcement, this episode offers invaluable lessons on leadership, resilience, and what it really takes to be a police chief in 2026.
Hey there! Send us a message. Who else should we be talking to? What topics are important? Use FanMail to connect! Let us know!
Contact us: [email protected] 

Website: www.copdocpodcast.com

If you'd like to arrange for facilitated training, or consulting, or talk about steps you might take to improve your leadership and help in your quest for promotion, contact Steve at [email protected]