Why do people choose to develop emotional intelligence and why do they turn to Six Seconds for their path?
In “Voices from Six Seconds Network,” we introduce you to people in the network who share their experiences, personal journeys, and how they embrace EQ in different areas of their daily lives.

EQ Revolution in Law Enforcement Shifts Control to Compassion: How Chief Jeremy Jensen is Transforming Police Culture through Emotional Intelligence

by Maddalena Campitelli

“We want emotional intelligence to become a common language. Our ultimate goal is that people start naming their feelings and have conversations about it both in their workplace and at home, so that it becomes a lifestyle. That’s what our goal is.” – Jeremy Jensen, Chief of Police, City of Dubuque

This month we sat down with Jeremy Jensen, the Chief of Police in Dubuque, Iowa and a Certified EQ Coach, Practitioner and Assessor. With over 32 years experience in law enforcement, he’s seen firsthand the need for emotional intelligence skills in policing, and as Police Chief has worked to expand EQ training to more departments.

Back in 2007, Jeremy Jensen was getting a lot of complaints. He worked in internal affairs at the Dubuque Police Department, and it was clear there were members of the police department who were struggling and weren’t communicating effectively. “Our primary job as police officers is communication: 95% of what we do is communicating with somebody,” Jensen says. “But it’s often with people who are emotionally hijacked. It takes a lot of skill to manage those situations.”

With a fellow officer, he started teaching self-awareness classes to help other officers navigate challenges. They were popular and kept growing. In 2017, Jensen connected with Liza Johnson, the Director of Personal Empowerment at the University of Dubuque, who recommended Six Seconds as a potential fit for his work with the police department.
Jensen dove right into training, and finished EQ Practitioner, EQ Assessor and the EQ Coach Certification with Johnson and a fellow officer – with the goal of bringing emotional intelligence into the police department. “Emotional intelligence is an umbrella term for a lot of things we do,” Jensen says, “We knew we could use it to help us with mindfulness, communication and de-escalation, and it has.”

Changing a culture, one conversation at a time

Jeremy admits that it has been a slow process to get people to understand what emotional intelligence is and what the benefits of it are. As policing and law enforcement are areas traditionally male dominated (80%) and with hierarchical structure, talking about feelings is largely new territory. “Traditionally our culture is, ‘you don’t talk about emotions’,” Jensen says. “If you see something, you bottle up, you hide it and take it home. What we’re trying to do is change that, both individually and collectively.”
Jensen and the other trainers have mastered the art of introducing EQ in a way that resonates with the officers and helps them do their jobs more effectively. “Some officers might not understand or appreciate the concepts of mindfulness and EQ fully,” Jensen explains, “but they surely understand the idea that ‘you need to get your heart rate down from 180 down to 120 in certain situations.’ If you can’t deal with your own emotions, you’re not going to be able to manage somebody else’s emotions. You have to be able to calm yourself down to calm someone else down.”

When he hears people saying phrases like name it to tame it (a phrase he uses often), or the terminology of the Think, Feel, Act cards that he uses in his coaching sessions, he knows the work is making an impact. “I’ve had people show up on Day 1 of training and say, ‘this is stupid,’ then weeks later say, ‘This is so valuable. We need this.’

“EQ does work, I know that. Even with the hardest cases you can get people to open up.” Most importantly, people are starting to see and feel the results of this work, which is the ultimate proof of concept.

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Meet Jeremy Jensen LinkedIn →

Professional achievements: Jeremy Jensen is the Chief of Police of the Dubuque Police Department in Iowa. He has been in law enforcement for over 32 years and has spent the last 29 years in Dubuque, where he has worked in patrol, traffic, criminal investigations, tactical operations, community policing, training, and internal affairs. Jeremy was appointed Chief in March 2022 and is involved in driving initiatives around mental health, emotional intelligence, and intercultural competency. He is a big proponent, as well as a promoter of the use of technology in the law enforcement. Jeremy is an Emotional Intelligence Coach and has over 200 hours coaching individuals and teams. Jeremy holds a BA in Criminal Justice, an MA in Communications and he’s a graduate of the FBI National Academy. Jeremy has been married 27 years to his wife, Jennifer, they have two daughters, Jenna and JaNiese and two dogs. Jeremy is very active outside of work where he serves his church, teaches and coaches at the college level, and participates in numerous events and activities.  

Favorite Six Seconds Learning Philosophy: “Emotions drive people” which ultimately leads to “People drive performance”.

Learn about Six Seconds Learning Philosophy →

Noble Goal: “To use my God given talents to provide hope, through wisdom, knowledge, compassion and caring.”

Learn about Six Seconds Noble Goals →  

His “Don’t Miss This” Six Seconds tools & courses: “I use the SEI Leadership report, Brain Profiles reports the most. I also use the Think Feel Act cards.”

More compassion, less complaints: EQ investment pays dividends

The number of complaints is down, and the department regularly receives feedback about their officers being really patient and compassionate. Jensen points to the power of shifting the way people think about emotions.
“What we have traditionally been taught – to go there and take control, tell people they have to quiet down – doesn’t work with somebody who’s emotionally hijacked,” Jensen says. “What we’re really trying to teach instead, is to treat everybody as an individual, as a human and recognize that they have emotions. To understand that when they’re screaming at you, they’re probably not screaming at you as a police officer, but because of some situation they’re going through. The thing to do is to let them work through their emotions. A constructive approach is to ask the person what got them so upset, using the right questions.”

That requires an ingrained habit of emotional intelligence, which Jensen is trying to make a part of the culture at the Dubuque Police Department. To that end, the department continues investing in its internal capacity. Members of the department are currently doing EQ Practitioner and the EQ Coach Certification – the same courses Jensen and his colleague started with. And internally, they offer group coaching using TFA Cards and 1:1 coaching using assessments like the Brain Profiles and the SEI Leadership Report. They’ve incorporated EQ into the hiring process, and all new officers get some EQ training.

“We’re gonna do it, one person at a time,” Jensen says. “We want emotional intelligence to become a common language. Our ultimate goal is that people start naming their feelings and have conversations about it both in their workplace and at home, so that it becomes a lifestyle. That’s what our goal is.”

Thank you Jeremy for sharing your EQ journey with us!

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Want more resources?
Emotions at Work? 7 Principles to Rewrite the Unwritten Rules to Build an Emotionally Intelligent Culture
Getting Off the Trouble Train: How we can make a choice to respond rather than reacting
3 Key Tools for Workplace Communication: Practical tips to try and common pitfalls to avoid