A Conversation with Kathleen O'Toole

Date: 

Thursday, March 23, 2017, 5:00pm to 6:30pm

Location: 

Emerson Hall, Room 210, Harvard Yard

Join us for a special and timely discussion with Chief Kathleen O'Toole, in conversation with Danielle Allen, on a range of topics such as codes of conduct for policing, core values of the profession, transparency and fairness in investigations of misconduct, and police reform efforts and challenges.

Kathleen O'Toole was sworn in as Chief of the Seattle Police Department on June 23, 2014. Chief O'Toole is a career police officer and lawyer who has earned an international reputation for her principled leadership and reform strategies. In 2012, Ms. O’Toole completed a six-year term as Chief Inspector of the Gardia Síochána Inspectorate, an oversight body responsible for bringing reform, best practice and accountability to the 17,000 member Irish national police service.

Prior to serving in Ireland, Ms. O’Toole rose through the ranks of local and state policing in the United States. During her police career, she was assigned to numerous patrol, investigative, undercover, supervisory and management positions. She served as Superintendent (Chief) of the Metropolitan District Commission Police and Lieutenant Colonel overseeing Special Operations in the Massachusetts State Police. She was later appointed Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety (1994) and Boston Police Commissioner (2004).