Everyone in the Marquette University Police Department is given a simple yet challenging goal: listen. For the subjects of police calls or encounters, it could mean the difference between a night in a jail or a shelter, a visit with a court official or a mental health counselor.
“We do things a little bit differently here,” MUPD Chief Edith Hudson says. “We try to slow things down and figure out, OK, are there any root-cause issues here?”
That is how one MUPD officer realized someone in distress was suffering from an allergy attack, then drove the student to a late-night pharmacy for medicine. And how another realized a woman and her infant needed shelter on a frigid night, then went the extra mile to get them to a safe place.
“It is very consistent with seeing God in all things and in all people.”
MUPD Chief Edith Hudson
Active listening is rooted in a principle Hudson has followed since she was a Milwaukee patrol officer: servant leadership. Simply put, it means putting the needs of others first. While unusual in law enforcement, committing to this approach is “not a heavy lift” at a Catholic, Jesuit institution, she says. “It is very consistent with seeing God in all things and in all people.”
Dispatchers, public safety officers, patrol officers, student employees and every other member of Hudson’s 80-person staff are trained in servant leadership practices. As they serve the campus and surrounding neighborhoods, they are asked to treat people with respect, empathy and eagerness to understand their situation. “Chief Hudson is fostering a culture of service within the force, creating officers who are not just protectors but true servants of the community,” says Dr. Meghan Stroshine, Arts ’94, chair and associate professor of social and cultural sciences.
And it’s spreading. When Lieutenant of Support Services Jim Hensley joined Hudson’s team in 2021, he learned servant leadership so he could train the MUPD staff. After that, requests started coming. Hensley estimates he’s trained about 600 people in law enforcement outside MUPD, including at the Milwaukee Police Department, where servant leadership is now a formal part of the curriculum for new recruits.
