Breaking Barriers. Building Leaders.
Think Again Feature
How Sybil El-Amin Jones is Transforming Policing Through Education and Empathy
Deputy Chief Sybil El-Amin Jones has spent nearly three decades wearing the badge—but her greatest impact might be what she teaches others to do with it.
As the only Black female Deputy Chief in the Richmond Police Department, El-Amin Jones is no stranger to breaking barriers. But it’s her work with the Professional Executive Leadership School (PELS) — the result of a partnership between the University of Richmond and the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police — that’s helping reshape the future of law enforcement in Richmond and across the state.
El-Amin Jones recognizes that educating veteran police officers can be challenging, but changing people’s perspectives through teaching is very rewarding.
“We can be stubborn and set in our ways,” El-Amin Jones said. “In every class I teach, someone says, ‘I never thought of it that way.’ That’s why I continue to teach.”
PELS provides advanced training for rising law enforcement leaders, especially in smaller departments that may lack access to robust educational resources. Through many years and tweaks to the curriculum, PELS has become more than a leadership program — it’s a platform for impact.
The courses El-Amin Jones teaches address critical topics like effective communication, de-escalation techniques, and community-oriented policing. Her teaching is not about political correctness or feel-good workshops — it’s about tools for real-world challenges. More importantly, El-Amin Jones focuses on topics that are critical to improving the interactions between law enforcement and community members.
“The impact of racial and sexual disparities exists regardless of anyone's personal feelings,” El-Amin Jones explained. “The community has asked over and over for their officers to receive training that includes anti-bias, use of force, de-escalation, and working with persons in crisis… to build trust and understanding.”
My goal in teaching is not to convert, shame, or mollycoddle. I teach to inform and educate.
Through PELS, El-Amin Jones equips officers with strategies to lead departments that reflect the communities they serve. Her sessions are grounded in evidence-based practices and push officers to think critically about their role — not just as enforcers, but as protectors and partners.
The results are visible. Officers trained through PELS are more likely to recognize the value of differing perspectives, improve team collaboration, and prioritize trust-building with the public. Departments that once struggled with community engagement are now seeing improved relationships and reduced conflict.
El-Amin Jones’s efforts don’t stop in the classroom. She’s currently leading the development of curriculum for Richmond’s new Citizen Review Board, ensuring its members understand their responsibilities and have the tools to advocate for accountability and transparency.
Her approach is always grounded in empathy and practicality.
“My goal in teaching is not to convert, shame, or mollycoddle,” she stated. “I teach to inform and educate.”
El-Amin Jones credits her family — and especially her parents — for instilling the values that guide her: hard work, civic duty, and the power of education. Now, through PELS and her leadership roles, she’s passing those values on to a new generation of law enforcement leaders.
“My parents believed strongly in civic duty and instilled in us the importance of ‘fighting for the good’,” she noted.
And through PELS, El-Amin Jones is doing just that — one officer, one lesson, one department at a time.