Effective police management is essential for maintaining law and order within communities and ensuring the safety and well-being of citizens. Police executives, tasked with leading law enforcement agencies, must navigate a complex landscape of responsibilities, including internal management functions, external relations, and leadership styles. This essay explores the six basic police management functions, the two primary roles of law enforcement executives, and the four executive styles through the analysis of Case Study 4, “Gaining Outside Commitment in Lowell, Massachusetts” and Case Study 5, “Leading Change in Riverside, California.” By examining the characteristics and behaviors of the chiefs in the case studies, we can identify which executive …show more content…
Internally, Chief Fortier focuses on organizational restructuring and reform to address internal inefficiencies and improve departmental performance (Cordner, 2019). Implemented changes to streamline operations, enhance accountability, and promote a culture of innovation and excellence within the department (Cordner, 2019). Externally, Chief Fortier prioritizes community engagement and collaboration with external stakeholders. He actively seeks input from community members, local leaders, and advocacy groups to inform policing strategies and initiatives (Cordner, 2019). By involving external partners in decision-making processes and seeking their support for departmental reforms, Chief Fortier builds trust and legitimacy for the police department within the community (Cordner, 2019). One success of Chief Fortier's external role is the establishment of strong community partnerships and enhanced public trust in the police department (Cordner, 2019). However, one potential failure could be the challenge of overcoming resistance to change from within the department or facing opposition from certain community groups. Overall, both Captain Davis and Chief Fortier demonstrate effective leadership in balancing internal and external roles to drive organizational change and improve police-community relations. Their successes highlight the importance of strong leadership, communication, and collaboration in achieving positive outcomes for law enforcement
Chief Mangan is now beginning to work and transmit his mission throughout all levels of the police department and to gain the support and trust from the members. These members included natural leaders, all sworn rank officers,and civilian titles or leaders, these individuals all met several evenings on a weekly basis in an informal advisory group to discuss the organization’s weakness and strengths, and to make recommendations for any
There is change trying to happen, in a rural Pacific Northwest police department (PD) that is nestled in the corner of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. This Department serves a diverse population of 9000 people and encompasses roughly 4 mi.², as well as being surrounded by water on three of those four sides. When evaluating police departments, according to the state and national averages it is undersized for the population it serves. As one would expect it is a department with a long and rich 126-year history JCHS (2014). As well, as with the majority of all municipal departments, it has suffered its ups and downs, as well as suffering and prospering through healthy and poor administrations.
Toxic leadership, likely found in all agencies at some point, and the general awareness of toxic leaders with whom individual officers have worked, makes this a real problem for law enforcement agencies. Knowing the root and cause of this type of leadership helps develop understanding on the part of those that can effect a change in leadership within an agency. Comprehending the methods by which such environments develop and their negative impact on the agency as a whole - via individual officers’ experiences, opens the doors on hidden collusion that destroy morale.
In law enforcement, the Situational Leadership Theory [SLT] method adapts a police leader-supervisor style that is based on the follower’s personal understanding of their own skills, experiences, and motivations in association with the workings an agency’s service. This approach focuses on a person’s style based on their leadership perceptions from a task-oriented field. The field represents an extent that focuses on the function being performed in a relationship with the people they are supervising.
The leadership approaches of David Harman and Frank Viturello, have greatly affected their organization as a whole as they lead and demonstrate by example. Chief Harman and Viturello are both strong advocates of organizational leadership. What made these men stood out is their exceptional working relationship and partnership with each other regarding leadership and problem solving (Haberfeld, 2013). Both chiefs’ came from different ethnic backgrounds and experienced discrimination early in their careers and wanted to make a difference with new generations of police officers. The Chiefs’ had powerful envisions of innovative changes within their organization, and had revamped the recruitment policy in order to create ethnic diversification (Haberfeld, 2013). A criminal justice manager must select a style of leadership that will accomplish his or her mission, and most importantly, selecting a style of management that will attract qualified Asian-American applicants towards a career in law enforcement (Shusta et al.,
The vision for the future of community policing sees the police and community working together. This differs from the more traditional/hierarchical model where the police serve as the law-enforcing authority in the community. Instead we will see the two groups (police & community) as proactive partners. The move to community policing entails major restructuring and changes within the existing hierarchical structure. Duties of line level officers changed from more general duties to a specific area assignment. Community policing gives these officers are given a sense of empowerment and responsibility. To more adequately illustrate the changes that an agency has to undergo in the transition, the specific example of the Edmonton Police Service will be discussed. Griffiths, Whitelaw & Parent conducted a case study of the Edmonton Police Service(EP...
President’s Task Force on 21 Century(2015), states community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime. In my opinion, successful community policing initiatives involve transformational changes within the organizational structure and how day to day operations are handled. Furthermore, things such as a change in management policies, command structure, and training can help officers adjust to the community they have been sworn to protect.
“Before new chiefs can set a path for a new vision, they must have a clear understanding of the past. A police department’s organizational culture is a deeply ingrained, personal aspect of its functioning that must not be trivialized. Years of hard work and dedication by scores of individuals went into the creation of that culture, and it must be respected. However, if the culture is no longer in step with the expectations of the community, then changes must be made. Changes for the future must be carefully crafted to achieve the desired goal without disregarding the past. New chiefs can best accomplish this task by first listening to the variety of individuals that represent the stakeholders for their departments. Gaining input is important to obtaining an understanding of the values and expecta...
In order to best serve their communities, law enforcement agencies have now begun to focus on the strategy of community policing. This strategy is a philosophy which involves a permanent commitment to the community. Community policing broadens the law enforcement agency beyond crime control. It provides full-service, personalized, and decentralized policing that focuses on problem solving. Community policing attempts to build trust between police officers and citizens and changes each one’s perception of the other. In order to accomplish this trust, police officers need to be fair and responsive through personal contacts on a continuous, prolonged basis.
He prioritized transparency, employee empowerment, and partnership development to foster a culture of trust and accountability within the department. Mangan's strategic planning focused on aligning departmental goals with community priorities, emphasizing data-driven decision-making and performance measurement to evaluate outcomes effectively (Smith, 2018). Mangan's emphasis on organizational transformation and decentralization enabled officers to respond more effectively to local needs and tailor their approaches to specific communities. By empowering frontline personnel to make autonomous decisions and encouraging innovation in problem-solving efforts, Mangan fostered a sense of ownership and responsibility among officers, leading to increased job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Smith, 2018). Furthermore, Mangan's commitment to prevention and proactive policing underscored the department's dedication to addressing underlying factors contributing to crime and disorder.
In addition to making improvements, law enforcement agencies can implement training and education to develop effective leadership. Law enforcement leaders must ensure that their staff are properly developed and trained in order to deal with a variety of issues such as diversity (Moriarity, 2009). Although a racial balance in police departments does not guarantee peace between police and the community, law enforcement agencies across the country are strengthening efforts to diversify their departments (Alcindor & Pezenstadler, 2015). Efforts are challenged by tight budgets, hiring freezes, and a shrinking pool of qualified candidates. Still, some departments such as the Oakland Police Department look past traditional methods for recruiting and their success is the proof (Alcindor & Pezenstadler,
Organizational change can occur due to the result of pressures from the external environment (such as new legislation, or community pressure), or from an internal conflict within the agency. In either case, a performance gap, due to external or environmental change, external repercussions to the agency’s actions, internal technical or structural changes , or extensive employee turnover, is recognized. (Stojkovic et al, 2008). Administrators do not choose to begin organizational change randomly. Once a performance gap is made apparent to the agency administrator, she will be motivated to modify the internal workings of the agency to adapt to these pressures. Planned organizational change is a bridge that links the organization with its environment (lecture notes, P. Smith, 2010). Criminal justice agencies embark upon organizational change in an effort to adapt to changing environments (political support, legislative changes, etc). Our example will focus on an administrator changing a police agency from a traditional patrol-centric model to a professional, problem-solving model. In many large cities the p...
Police agencies must develop positive rapport and channels of communication with diverse communities in order to achieve goals and avoid conflicts. Racism, discrimination, and miscommunication have been the cause of countless police shootings in this past month. Police leaders must find innovative methods to collaborate
From this Community Police Consortium, the BJA put together a report titled Understanding Community Policing, A Framework for Action, which focused on developing a conceptual framework for community policing and assisting agencies in implementing community policing. The basis for this consortium was much more direct than the previous efforts set forth by Presidential Commissions during the 1960’s and 1970’s, and led to what became known as the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS, Title 1 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994). The core components outlined in the BJA report listed the two complementary core components to community policing: community partnership and problem solving. The report further stated that effective community policing depends on positive contact between patrol officers and community members, establishing and maintaining mutual trust as the primary goal of a community partnership, and police and community must join together to encourage and preserve peace and prosperity. While these are just a few of the recommendations listed in the report, there were many more that set forth the framework for community policing, but these were the core components.
All organizations, especially law enforcement agencies, require leadership. Maintaining a dependable leadership structure is key to the success of any organization. The philosophy of the modern style of police leadership involves a leader who is strong, competitive and unreceptive to change. Police leadership is based from an autocratic style which is founded on integrity and courage, embracing teamwork, involvement and shared leadership (Cordner & Scarborough, 2010). This style of leadership works well in an emergency situation in which rapid decision making and strict control is needed. The negative aspect to this style of leadership is the inability of the organization to function with the absence of leadership.