Police Leadership – Characteristics, Activities and Perceptions

Introduction

Leadership and management in the law enforcement is a critical aspect of policing. But police leaders are required effectively operate and understand procedures in a complex political, social and organizational environment (Goff & Herrington, 2013). Although there is a wide range of ways to provide effective leadership, police leaders adhere to certain criteria that make them effective in their field. This paper will present a review of current literatures about the different components of effective police leaders, including the characteristics they should possess, the activities they should do, and the leader roles they should perform with regards to their ranks.

Characteristics that should be possessed by police leaders

In this paper, we have used different peer-reviewed literatures to support our claims. And throughout the articles that we have used, we found some important attributes that police leaders must possess. First is the ability to be ethical through a sense of honesty and integrity, which could help generate trust among the subordinates. Second is the sense of trust, which overlaps with being ethical, where leaders need to trust their staff and staff members need to look up on their police leaders as a trustworthy character (Goff & Herrington, 2013). Third, police leaders must possess a “good copper” image, so staff members could view them as a legitimate law enforcement leader. In addition, a “good copper” character means that the subordinates know the leader could be trusted as the front officer in the line of duty. Another important characteristic of a police leader is being a role model to those being led in the lower ranks. In policing, the senior ranks officer should understand that their ability to lead serves as an inspiration for the lower ranks to look up to; this helps them lead as an example for the staff members, who are expected to emulate such behaviors as well (Peterson, Walumbawa & Avolio, 2012). Another key characteristic of the police leaders is creating a room for effective communication – a well-laid communication between the subordinates, within the police organization, as well as across other organizations to ensure that policing and policy development is accurately followed. Police leaders must also be effective decision-makers, especially in the sense that their job urges them to think and act quit in almost any circumstance or life-threatening situation. By being competent decision-makers, it will be easier for the organization to achieve their goals and produce results-oriented policing actions for the civilians. It is discussed by Vito, Suresh & Richards (2011), that the ability of policy leaders to make decisions accordingly helps them earn the legitimacy and security in the eyes of their subordinates. And in order for decision-making to become an active part of the police organization’s main goals, subordinates should also be involved in this effective thinking strategy to facilitate effective communication, camaraderie, support and trust within the organization as a whole (Peterson, Walumbawa & Avolio, 2012). All of these traits could be considered as the vital abilities that police leaders must possess to make them successful leaders in their chosen profession.

Activities undertaken by police leaders

According to studies there are different activities undertaken by police leaders to make them effective and efficient in their profession, this include producing organization commitment, developing a shared vision, caring for the followers, managing and enforcing change, and learning to solve problems in a systematic way (Goff & Herrington, 2013). Developing a shared and solid vision is one, and it means that police leaders must create and share their vision within the organization in order to create a sense of purpose for the staff members (Walsh & Kunselman, 2009). And once this vision is properly set, the police leader along with his subordinates can produce an organizational commitment through the support, help, promotion, collaboration and feedback from the people around him. Again, we can see that this is associated with the decision-making characteristic of a police leader, where everyone can voice out their opinions for the betterment of the organizational police operations (Vito, Suresh & Richards, 2011). Another important activity undertaken by police leaders is their ability to care for their subordinates through coaching, mentoring, developing opportunities and growth, as well as taking responsibility for their safety and well-being within the police enforcement premises (Goff & Herrington, 2013). Also, this ability to care for followers help facilitate trust between the subordinates, which we have discussed above as a vital characteristic of the police leader himself. Another important yet challenging activity performed by police leaders is facilitating and managing change from an organizational level. This is because the leader must know how to be transformational so that he can shift from a role of a change facilitator to an active manager of the reform or change (O’Leary & Monk-Turner, 2011); but it is important to note that the facilitation of change is always for the eradication of negative outputs or challenges and the development of positive changes necessary for organizational development and sustainability. In terms of becoming a change facilitator, the police leader should carefully note that this activity is given importance by him and other higher ranking offers within the organizations, so there is no need to delegate the tasks to lower ranking officials in any case that a change is needed to be facilitated (Vito, Suresh & Richards, 2011). The last and most important activity undertaken by police leader is problem-solving, where the decision-making process is again an important characteristic to possess. Problem-solving, however, should be proactive and collaborative so that the critical thinking of all involved individuals are properly taken into consideration and synthesized to formulate the best possible solution to a specific conflict or problem (Goff & Herrington, 2013).

Different perceptions about leadership based on officer ranks

Police officers from different ranks have different beliefs about what effective leadership is all about.  According to O’Leary & Monk-Turner (2011), the perceptions about police leadership basically looks different depending on the ranks the police officers hold within an organization. For instance, senior police leadership entails sharing the mission and providing the vision for the lower ranking officers. This means that senior police leadership should be more on problem-solving, critical thinking, decision-making, strategic planning, delegating tasks and collaborating within the organization (Walsh & Kunselman, 2009). Middle ranking police managers, on the other hand, provide logistical and administrative support, as well as engage in coordinating, mentoring, coaching, empowering officers and building teams. It should be noted that these middle ranking managers do these activities along with the front line police supervisors, who provide operational leadership by supervising, assigning tasks, training and evaluating performance of the staff members (O’Leary & Monk-Turner, 2011).

All of the mentioned higher ranking officials above are sharing the same leadership role, which is known as strategic leadership. The responsibility of the sergeants, chief inspectors and inspectors, on the other hand, is known as tactical style of leadership (Vito, Suresh & Richards, 2011). This means that they provide the interventions and resources used for tactical operations of the organization, but this also mean that they should also possess the vital characteristics of police leaders, which have been discussed in the beginning sections of this paper. More specifically, tactical-oriented police leaders focus more on activities that would benefit their operations, such as by providing substantial resources to effectively achieve the tasks handed out to them, clarifying and specifying the procedures that should be followed, as well as relaying the most important information handed out by senior ranking officers. With these being said, we can perceive that tactical leadership focuses more on developing a “good copper” image, ensuring that there is an effective communication between the higher ranking and the lower ranking members, as well as empowering and instilling trust to the members. And although middle ranking officers do not focus on the development of a shared vision for the organization, they do share a vision and purpose for the team, which is for tactical intervention purposes only (Peterson, Walumbawa & Avolio, 2012). The middle and lower ranking officer also have a little leadership role in terms of facilitating change, because these activities are commonly undertaken by higher ranking officers. What they do, however, is to maintain the status quo within their leadership style as long as there is a specific order for change to be followed coming from the higher officials, or if that specific change is suited for the tactical operations of their members. This means that middle ranks and senior ranks value change, innovation and creativity whenever they see this fit and necessary for the entire organization (O’Leary & Monk-Turner, 2011).

Conclusion

In this paper, we can argue that leadership in policing is a complex process, but by understanding the specific roles and characters that police leaders must possess with regards to their ranks, it would make it easier for them to understand how they should perform their duties according to their positions (Goff & Herrington, 2013). We have also discussed the different leadership views of police officers according to their ranks, and from here, we learned that police leadership is a shared value where everyone should work and perform accordingly in order for the entire organization to operate systematically and efficiently.

References

Goff, T. & Herrington, H. (2013). “Police leadership: A systematic review of the literature.” Policing advanced. 27: 1-13.

O’Leary, D. & Monk-Turner, E. (2011). “Holding out for a hero: Selecting a chief of police.” Police Practice and Research. 12(5): 435–449.

Peterson, Walumbawa & Avolio, 2012. “The relationship between authentic leadership and follower job performance.” Leadership Quarterly. 23: 502– 516.

Vito, G., Suresh, T. & Richards, K. (2011). “Emphasizing the servant in public service.” Journal of Police Strategies and Management. 34(4): 674 – 686.

Walsh, T. & Kunselman, R. (2009). “Community policing: The middle manager’s perspective.” Police Quarterly. 8(4): 490–511.