Police Leadership The Inside Story

This volume presents the new contexts and challenges for contemporary police leaders and managers in the changing landscapes of policing. The governance of contemporary police organisations requires leaders and managers, even at the local level, to work in and understand complex social, political and organisational environments. The wide range of topics in this collection explores what is changing, what is known about the impact of these changes and what leaders and managers now need to be able to do or anticipate as a consequence. Operational policing is no longer the militaristic singular activity it once was, but embraces new models of 'partnership' and 'community' to manage crime and disorder. Equally, while command and control models are still an essential of many aspects of policing, managing police officers and staff increasingly depends on their professional development and encouraging enthusiasm and innovation. Policing takes place under conditions of intense scrutiny from the media and from the community; and crime and disorder is the subject of much political debate. Each of these broad areas are addressed and present a surprising range of perspectives. The volume is aimed at every level of management and leadership in policing, researchers of policing and students of police management and leadership.

This book identifies police leaders who have stood out and chalked a path that has transformed their organizations. It describes these thinkers, who look deep into the challenges of policing and comment critically upon various responses and actions. Featuring profiles of police leaders from various countries, this book features officers with an aptitude for learning, presenting the situations they have confronted and the methods they have adopted to change systems and usher reforms. It identifies the characteristics of thinking police officers, and suggests the ways in which the serious policing challenges of modern times can be addressed by creative and outside the box thinking by leadership. Appropriate for students of criminal justice and policing, for researchers studying law enforcement and for practitioners discussing policing reform, this book will initiate a new debate about the nature and possibilities of building new police for the 21st century.

This book provides a roadmap for how police services can address incivility in the workplace and become more inclusive from the inside out. In the past few years policing has come under increased scrutiny due to a number of police-involved shootings and in-custody deaths, where systemic racism, the inability to effectively confront persons suffering from mental illness, and excessive use of force have been perceived by civil rights groups to play a significant factor. These deaths and the subsequent public outcry have led to various constituents questioning the legitimacy of the police. The book incorporates real stories of police officers and case studies of select police organizations. A look inside a number of these departments has identified an equal concern for incivility within the workplace in the form of gender and ethnic harassment and discrimination. The costs of workplace incivility can be significant as workplace victims are not only likely to decrease their work effort, quality of work, and their level of commitment to the organization, they are also likely to mistreat others in the workplace and to take their frustrations out on those they serve. While these costs have a significant impact for police organizations, incivility by police officers against members of the public can have a much greater impact in terms of eroding perceptions of police legitimacy. This book takes a unique approach in providing a model for police organizations to pursue in becoming more inclusive. To this end, this book will be very relevant for police practitioners, reform advisors, researchers, and graduate-level course in special topics.