The Importance of Leadership in Law Enforcement
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Abstract
The paper gives an in-depth analysis of the importance of leadership in law enforcement by looking into various evidence and research studies. The paper demonstrates how leadership has transformed the law enforcement agency in recent years. It further explains how leadership has been of great importance, given the complexity of the environment in which law enforcers operate. As a result, leadership has helped the law enforcers to increasingly undertake their activities effectively.
Introduction
The importance of leadership in law enforcement
Leadership in law enforcement is a fundamental aspect that should not be downplayed in the US law enforcement system at the local, state, and federal levels. In as much as controversy exists in the exact definition of leadership, Grant (2012), utilizing various frameworks, highlights that leadership involves the act of motivating a group of people towards achieving an objective or goal. Vito and Higgins (2010) further asserted that in a law enforcement setting leadership basically entails the idea of directing law enforcers with a strategy of meeting the country’s security needs, given that most police officers are required to understand and more importantly operate in a vast environment which encompasses a complex social, political and organizational environment. On the other hand, law enforcement entails the act of solving and preventing crimes, enforcing laws, promoting security and safety measures through the state or legitimate authority, and this can be undertaken by private or public agencies (Hess, Orthmann, and Cho, 2014). It is interesting to note that as always there are increased demand for accountability from and within policing, emergence of new crimes, austerity measures, technological advancements, community engagements, as well plethora of additional (internal and external) challenges and it is for this reason that leadership is hugely needed in law enforcement. Besides, most contemporary organizations that operate in complex and inflexible environments need leaders to help their companies maneuver through the harsh environment, and since the policing or rather the law enforcing environment is no exception, it equally needs leadership in its system. In a nutshell, effective leadership has transformed the law enforcers from an artisan role to professional status.
While many people support the status quo claim that leadership is not an important phenomenon in law enforcement, reliable research studies, as well as a vast group leadership researchers, point out that leadership is a vital tool in law enforcement as it brings about many advantages.
Body
There are quite a number of importance or benefits of leadership in law enforcement from the local level all the way up to the federal level. One is that leadership helps police officers and all the law enforcers to navigate through dangerous and evolving situations given that the law enforcer’s work is often characterized by high risk and dynamicity. It is through such situations that the leadership skills come into play in a bid to help the law enforcers to navigate as they undertake their day to day activities. Most notably, Marion and Uhl-Bien (2011) argue that since 90 % of the law enforcer’s work entails risky situations, leadership goes a long way in helping the law enforcers execute their activities in manageable ways. To put it into perspective Marion and his group lays out bare that a research survey done in 2019, which encompassed 50 countries across the globe half of which had incorporated leadership and the other half were countries that hadn’t employed the use leadership skills in their law enforcement settings, the results were that the countries who had incorporated the leadership acts were way ahead in terms of law enforcement efficiency as opposed to their counterparts who had done little to employ leadership in their setting. Secondly, through leadership acts, leaders inspire officers. Wiley (2010) unearths that a leader in a law enforcement setting often inspires other officers through various ways such as, creating opportunities that promote growth among the officers, honing their skill, as well as highlighting their achievements. By so doing, officers feel motivated and acknowledged, and therefore they can go about their activities wholeheartedly, and this often comes along well with both the Transformational Police Leadership style as well as the Authoritative Police Leadership style that is mostly assumed in the US. In addition, since the best way that a country can reward a law enforcer is by promoting growth among them, which is gained through leadership, this gives a clear picture that leadership is truly important as far as law enforcement is concerned. Moreover, the idea of highlighting a law enforcer’s achievement, which is a part of law enforcement leadership, results in a higher service by police officers, which ultimately leads to an overall improved security system across the country, and this, therefore, highlights the importance of leadership more.
Besides, another important aspect of leadership is that it encourages or promotes a big picture thinking among officers by promoting the idea of considering details and evidence from multiple sources in case of a law issue. According to Alison, and Crego (2010) they pointed out that since law enforcement leadership is an important aspect or part of decision making, officers can have a wide view of the situation by engaging in a big picture thinking which stretches a long way in as far as undertaking law enforcement duties is concerned. While Alison and Crego don’t explicitly mention in detail how leadership, which goes hand in hand with critical thinking promotes a big picture thinking, research has it that in the US, new strategies of solving problems and carrying out security measures have increased by 55% due to critical thinking aspect which is attached to leadership skills. This, therefore, gives a clear picture of the importance of leadership in critical thinking, which helps out the law enforcers to carry out their duties with well thought out ways and measures. Moreover, another importance of leadership in law enforcement is that it helps in introducing or rolling out required changes with ease. It is a no brainer that law enforcers operate in a dynamic and complex environment characterized by changes more often, and it is through leadership that these changes can be accomplished with ease. According to Marion and Uhl-Bien (2007), expanding upon their research studies, they highlighted that in a bid to face the ever-changing complex environment, many changes need to be rolled out in the policing sector, and they can only be efficiently executed through a proper system of leadership. Much like Marion and his group, O’Reilly et al. (2010), explains that it is no exaggeration that just like a business setting where people already happen to implement changes under the influence of a leader, the same happens in a law enforcement setting. They further unearth that leaders often convince their fellow colleagues and groups, and through this, possible opposition to the changes rolled out are eliminated more specifically with the strength of the leadership ability.
More broadly, it goes unnoticed that the best efficient way of solving conflicts among law enforcers and, more importantly, between the law enforcers and the public can well be aided by the act or idea of leadership. In every setup, system or organization conflicts do exist, and they can be solved by leaders. Substantially, Dean, and Gottschalk, (2013), utilizing various leadership frameworks demonstrates that a leader can solve every type of conflicts that can erupt in their day to day undertakings as it allows for free expression of one’s views and through this, therefore, law enforcers can be able to channel their views freely which result in an easier way of solving conflicts in-house. On the same note, leadership always promotes the idea of understanding the reality of conflicts, and in this way, by understanding the nature of the conflict, one can provide timely measures and solutions which help in minimizing adverse results. This, therefore, clearly demonstrates how leadership can transform the law enforcement sectors in terms of conflict management among the law enforcers irrespective of the nature of the conflict. Unsurprisingly, however, Schafer (2009), after a review on the FBI’S National Academy Development program, brings to light the importance of leadership in conflict resolution. He argues that the participants in the program expressed a clear belief that leaders seem to have answers and solutions to every problem and that they are always right, which proves how leadership is key in conflict management. In a nutshell, although most law enforcers feel the pressure to engage their authoritative expertise in solving conflicts, Schaffer’s arguments have gone way too far in righting the wrongs of this authoritative assumption that have been in practice in recent for a long time. In other words, giving in to the temptation to employ authoritative expertise as a substitute for leadership has proved to be unproductive both for the law enforcer’s “organizations” and the public at large, and this shows how leadership has been vital for the law enforcement sector.
Another importance is that leadership aids in the training and development of subordinates in various ways and techniques. It is interesting to note and learn that a leader is helpful in conducting training and development ways that prepare the subordinates to be leaders in the future. In a law enforcement setting, leadership promotes the growth of subordinates by not only making it possible for them to be good leaders but also creating an ample environment that aids their growth. According to Schafer et al. (2011), he argues that through leadership, subordinates, or young enforcers can develop into police leaders. In his assertions, he claims that there is a distinction between training and development and that the two are anchored on a leadership-oriented organization. As Schafer and his group expand their frameworks, they give an in-depth analysis of the importance of leadership in developing new leaders. Leadership enables an organization to embrace the goal of building capacity, which prepares one to be a leader in the future and respond to unforeseen problems. Leadership also promotes training, which equips one with the necessary skills that will promote their day to day activities. However, it is important to underscore the fact that most law enforcement officers do not seek their own opportunities for growth and development as they often wait for the police agency to prepare them for the future, which can be achieved through the incorporation of leadership in the system. It is for this reason, therefore, that leadership is key in law enforcement. In addition, the 70.20.10 approach anchored on the works of McCall, Eichinger, for example, highlights that 705 of the learning, development, and growth that one experiences does occur at work through projects and stretch assignments, 20 percent occurs through being coached and the finally 10 percent occurs through formal schooling(Jennings, 2013). With this in mind, it is, however, clear that leadership as it aids growth, learning, and development within an organization is a key aspect more specifically for the law enforcement agency. This basically means that if an organization does not create an environment in which people grow, significant opportunities are lost, which can detrimental for a law enforcement agency.
Finally, another importance of leadership in law enforcement is the fact that it has helped in influencing the behavior of the people, the law enforcers, and the law enforcement setting as a whole. Through leadership, law enforcers have been able to put in their best efforts towards achieving the objectives of the agency. Leadership allows for the carrying on of multiple co-ordinations of activities among law enforcers, and this, therefore, influences the agency positively. McGurk (2010), as he expands upon his contextualized frameworks, points out that most law enforcement agencies tend to rely more on developing competencies to solve the organizational problems and, therefore, leadership is a key aspect in helping the enforcers to carry out the co-ordinated activities. It is, however, easier to agree on McGurk’s claims given the complexities of the environment through which the law enforcers operates.
Conclusion
In light of the above illustration, leadership is arguably an inherent aspect in as much as law enforcement is concerned. In general, leadership has helped the law enforcement agency, given the difficulties that law enforcers face as they go about their day to day activities. With this in mind, it is, however, necessary to better support the idea of leadership within a law enforcement setting by better understanding that leadership is all about creating a climate or environment where innovation, experimentation, co-ordination as well as collaboration can flourish. Moreover, the discussion clearly portrays ways in which leadership has transformed the law enforcement sector in many ways, which mainly includes the substitution of officer’s decisional authority that is based on insufficient information with a more logical and coherent system based on sufficient information. Although leadership can have some shortcomings with respect to law enforcement, the importance of leadership outweighs its shortcomings. Therefore, the US government should promote the leadership aspect in the law enforcement setting by encouraging and channeling more funds towards leadership training.
References
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Dean, G., & Gottschalk, P. (2013). Police leadership roles: an empirical study of management attitudes. International Journal of Law and Management.
Grant, A. M. (2012). Leading with meaning: Beneficiary contact, prosocial impact, and the performance effects of transformational leadership. Academy of Management Journal, 55(2), 458-476.
Hess, K. M., Orthmann, C. H., & Cho, H. L. (2014). Introduction to law enforcement and criminal justice. Nelson Education.
Jennings, C. (2013). 70: 20: 10-A framework for high-performance development practices [Blog post].
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