Document Type
Report
Publication Date
3-2025
Abstract
The Blue Courage website provides the mission of their agency: “The Blue Courage mission is to illuminate a path forward so that we ignite transformation in the individuals and organizations that we engage through our ground-breaking educational and consulting services. Transformation occurs with the small, consistent, incremental changes that amplify and reset current benchmarks of performance. Capacity continuously grows by enhancing our ability to execute, experience, and understand practical applications and tools that can be effectively used to ritualize capacity building practices — both professionally and personally.”
This noble mission reflects the dominate philosophies behind their law enforcement training program1 entitled, Blue Courage: The Heart and Mind of the Guardian. As the title suggests, this training program focuses on strengthening a “guardianship” model of policing. A traditional guardianship model is founded on a traditional notion that the primary role of law enforcement is “To Protect and To Serve” as many of us grew up seeing on the side of cop cars. The goal is to protect the public and civil liberties valued by American citizens (Rahr and Rice 2015), as well as encouraging public engagement and trust in the police (Murphy and McCarty 2024). Officers adopting a guardianship model prioritize communication and display empathy, with a focus on building police-community relationships through positive and procedurally just contacts (Murphy and McCarthy 2023, Murphy and McCarthy 2024, Stoughton 2015).
Recommended Citation
Spohn, Ryan E., "Overcoming Challenges and Unlocking Potential in Police Training Programs: The Case of Blue Courage" (2025). Reports. 153.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/ncjrreports/153
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