A book review of Parting Shots: My Passion for Policing by Robert F. Lunney
Reviewed by Michael Sale, American Military University
I first became aware of Bob Lunney’s reputation as an innovative police leader when I was attending one of the first community policing conferences ever held in Canada; it was in Toronto in October 1981. Bob was the Chief of Police in Edmonton and he had already established a national reputation for community participation in policing.
I have only known Bob Lunney as a police leader and, more recently, an accomplished consultant whose experience and insight have been shared with police executives and organizations around the world. His book, Parting Shots: My Passion for Policing fills in all the blanks and delivers the complete Bob Lunney story to date (I say “to date” because many of his colleagues believe he’s not finished just yet).
Bob Lunney is a real Mountie! He began his police career when every RCMP recruit had to spend time with the horses and his account of those early years, including time spent in remote outposts solving all kinds of community problems, is described with precision. I have no doubt, though, that his early days as a regular cop in the neighborhood provided him with the kind of understanding that motivated him to pursue excellence in police leadership for the rest of his life.
Bob’s a great Canadian, too, and he loves Canada. Winnipeg, the Yukon, Edmonton, Ottawa and Greater Toronto are all part of the Lunney story and he would be hard pressed to choose his favorite Canadian destination because he loved working wherever he was posted and he grew to love the challenges of each job and the people he served.
Parting Shots gives the reader a firsthand account of the complex job of being a police chief or, as we learn from his time in Winnipeg, part of a civic bureaucracy, when everything one does is subject to critical review internally and externally. That can be a little stressful at the best of times, but Bob shares many of his secrets for dealing with stress and surviving.
I found it a little eerie reading about Bob Lunney’s budget challenges when he was chief of police in Edmonton and Peel Region while chiefs of police in Ontario are currently caught up in horrible struggles regarding funding and governance. Bob Lunney knows what it’s like. In his book, he provides various examples of growth and success with the introduction of new programs designed to improve public service, but later shares the disappointment when budget cuts result in the dismantling of successful programs. And he knows firsthand what it feels like to see organizations shrink in the face of difficult financial decisions.
Throughout the book, Bob takes time to elaborate on successful, and not-so-successful, elements of police leadership with valuable references to those gifted writers whose work enhanced his understanding.
After his formal police career ends with a departure from Peel Region, Bob finds new opportunities as a consultant whose work takes him to Northern Ireland, the Middle East and to the highest levels of government in Washington, D.C. His adventures with the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) require him to keep his passport current, because his work becomes global. Not bad for a Canadian who joined the Mounties to serve his country.
Parting Shots is a well-written, sometimes light-hearted, journey covering more than 50 years of service from remote Canadian settlements to executive seats of power in many parts of the world.
I would recommend this book to anyone who, like Bob Lunney, has “a passion for policing.” Whether one is an aspiring police leader or a police executive who could benefit from reading about someone who understands the job, there is something here for everyone.
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