Public Safety & Policing
The 2026 Public Safety Summit
Navigating Complexity, Leading Forward
When & Where
April 24-26, 2026
Harvard University | Cambridge, MA

Join us as we examine fresh case studies, peer-based problem-solving sessions, and leading insight from Harvard faculty and researchers.

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About the Summit

Periods of disruption and upheaval often sharpen our vision for where we need stable and consistent government and where we need to reform and innovate. Public safety stands at such a moment today. As social unrest deepens, political dynamics escalate, and trust in policing declines, many public safety organizations are operating in a state of permacrisis.

At the same time, these intense pressures create an opportunity to clarify the purpose of public safety and lead forward with a new vision.

To meet this moment, Leadership for a Networked World, founded at Harvard University, in collaboration with Mark43, will convene the 2026 Public Safety Summit: Navigating Complexity, Leading Forward. Taking place April 24–26, 2026, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Summit will bring together public safety leaders to reflect on purpose, envision new outcomes, and build the organizational capabilities and cultures required to sustain meaningful change. The experience is designed to move beyond ideas to equip leaders to lead effectively amidst complexity.

During the Summit, participants will engage with critical leadership questions that can make or break progress, including:

  • How can we build strong, well-rounded teams that can improve policing services and outcomes now while building new models and capabilities for the future?
  • How do we cultivate cultures of wellbeing that support resilience and adaptability, enabling innovation to take root, scale, and endure amid uncertainty?
  • As advanced technologies and systems evolve, how can leaders address the policy and practice innovation required to leverage them optimally?
  • How do we build our personal leadership capacity to manage volatility and uncertainty, while also fostering resilience and resolve in our communities?

Innovation and renewal do not happen in isolation; they emerge through shared dialogue, mutual learning, and collective ambition. The Summit will embody this ethos by convening forward-thinking policing leaders, Harvard faculty, and subject matter experts to spark new thinking, strengthen leadership practice, and help shape the future of public safety together.

Who Should Attend?

Summit participants are senior-level public safety executives (Chief, Commissioner, Superintendent, Sheriff, etc.) in function, as well as “Chief Transformation Officers” in practice, who seek to improve organizational performance in the near term and redesign public safety for the long term.

Admission & Participation

The Summit is an invitation-only program for senior-most officials in public safety. Other applicants will be reviewed and accepted on a case-by-case basis, and according in part, to space availability. This event is supported by the hosting and collaborating organizations, so there is no tuition or fee to attend. Travel and hotel arrangements, and related expenses, are the responsibility of individual participants.

The Executive Leadership Group

Sean Duryee
Commissioner
California Highway Patrol
Jeffrey Glover
Director
Arizona Department of Public Safety
Peter Koutoujian
Sheriff
Middlesex County
Kathy Lester
Chief
Sacramento Police Department
Brian O'Hara
Chief
Minneapolis Police Department
Yoganda Pittman
Chief
University of California, Berkeley

Previous Reports

Leadership in Turbulent Times: A Report from 2018 Public Safety Summit

Go to Report

As the pace and power of social, political, and technological change accelerate in the world, citizens and stakeholders expect everything to happen faster – including the transformation of public safety and policing organizations.

This pace of change also creates a turbulent environment in which policing leaders have to manage the “political economy” surrounding them – including the competing demands of stakeholder groups, the need for delivering innovative new policing models, and the mandate to improve public trust and safety.

At The 2018 Public Safety Summit: Leadership in Turbulent Times, convened by Leadership for a Networked World and the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard in collaboration with Mark43, public safety leaders showed how they have been able to improve operationally, learn valuable lessons about their communities, and begin to chart a pathway forward for modern policing.

The Dynamics of Culture and Capacity: A Report from 2017 Public Safety Summit

Go to Report

Amidst a turbulent environment, innovative public safety leaders are moving forward to achieve dramatic new levels of capacity and public value. Right now, for example, visionary police chiefs are redesigning use-of-force policy and training to improve crime response and build community trust. Cutting-edge public safety organizations are using social networks, data, and analytics to understand crime patterns and respond proactively to community needs. And inventive policing leaders are collaborating across agencies, jurisdictions, and sectors to co-create solutions to community challenges.

Yet for even the savviest leaders, often the most challenging roadblock on their transformation journey is organizational resistance to change. How do leaders in public safety address this challenge? Skillful leaders realize that driving innovation and change requires not only redesigning organizational structures, systems, processes, and human capital, but also harmonizing organizational culture with new ways of working, collaborating, and producing public value.

To help public safety leaders work through the day's challenging questions, Leadership for a Networked World and the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, in partnership with Mark43, convened The 2017 Public Safety Summit: The Dynamics of Culture and Capacity from April 21 – 23 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This third annual Summit brought together innovative public safety, justice, and human services leaders, along with leading academics and industry experts, to learn and share ideas on how police chiefs, sheriffs, commissioners, and other officials can not only respond to broadening responsibilities more efficiently and effectively, but also transform their organizations, partnerships, operating models, and cultures to deliver improved policing outcomes and legitimacy.

Growing Capacity and Legitimacy: A Report from 2016 Public Safety Summit

Go to Report

For public safety leaders around the world, one thing is clear: while the basic mandate of maintaining law and order remains the same, the environment in which this mandate must be delivered is changing dynamically. Fueling this turbulent environment are powerful changes in public sentiment, demographics and social issues, pervasive and invasive technologies, and complex threats to community safety.

What’s imperative now is that public safety leaders gain an understanding of how to create newfound capacity for the future, outcomes and value that communities want, and the legitimacy that society demands.

To help public safety leaders address these questions and develop a vision for the future of public safety, Leadership for a Networked World and the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, in collaboration with Accenture, convened The 2015 Public Safety Summit: Leadership for a New Era at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Leadership for a New Era: A Report from 2015 Public Safety Summit

Go to Report

For public safety leaders around the world, one thing is clear: while the basic mandate of maintaining law and order remains the same, the environment in which this mandate must be delivered is changing dynamically. Fueling this turbulent environment are powerful changes in public sentiment, demographics and social issues, pervasive and invasive technologies, and complex threats to community safety.

What’s imperative now is that public safety leaders gain an understanding of how to create newfound capacity for the future, outcomes and value that communities want, and the legitimacy that society demands.

To help public safety leaders address these questions and develop a vision for the future of public safety, Leadership for a Networked World and the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, in collaboration with Accenture, convened The 2015 Public Safety Summit: Leadership for a New Era at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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