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Effective leaders and leadership in policing: traits, assessment, development, and expansion

Joseph A. Schafer (Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, Illinois, USA)

Policing: An International Journal

ISSN: 1363-951X

Article publication date: 9 November 2010

21006

Abstract

Purpose

Police leaders and leadership remain understudied within existing criminal justice scholarship. Using data derived from police supervisors participating in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy program, the purpose of this paper is to examine effective leaders and leadership. Specific consideration is given to the traits and habits of effective and ineffective leaders, the assessment of leadership efficacy, the development of leaders, and the barriers to the expansion of more effective leaders and leadership in contemporary policing.

Design/methodology/approach

Surveys were administered to over 1,000 police supervisors. Respondents ranked the traits and habits of effective and ineffective leaders, methods to evaluate leadership efficacy, and barriers to the expansion of more effective leaders and leadership. Though a convenience sample, the supervisors represent a diverse mix of police agencies of various sizes and types from around the world.

Findings

Ratings suggest respondents saw effective and ineffective leaders as expressing nearly opposite sets of traits and habits. Efficacy was most strongly linked with integrity, work ethic, communication, and care for personnel; ineffective leaders were characterized as failing to express these traits. Respondents cast leadership development as a process best‐achieved through a mixture of training/education, experience, and feedback. Surprisingly, the most highly‐rated barriers to the expansion of effective leaders and leadership practices were not fiscal, but cultural, structural, and political.

Research limitations/implications

Findings suggest key policy implications for police organizations and the policing profession. Many highly‐rated traits and habits may be linked with personality traits; this could complicate the capacity of leadership development initiatives to enhance these behaviors. Results suggest development programs need to do more than simply expose students to a diverse set of theories and perspectives of leadership; mentoring and guided experience were also rated as helpful. Major barriers to the expansion of effective leadership were not issues easily or quickly overcome, complicating the long‐term prospects of enhancing the quality of leadership within policing.

Originality/value

Given the paucity of systemic and large‐scale studies of police leadership, the findings offer important parameters to guide future research efforts. Though some results validate what might be assumed about police leadership, that validation is largely absent from the extant literature. The results provide a starting basis to guide subsequent research assessing the outcomes, evaluation, and development of police leaders.

Keywords

Citation

Schafer, J.A. (2010), "Effective leaders and leadership in policing: traits, assessment, development, and expansion", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 644-663. https://doi.org/10.1108/13639511011085060

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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