Introduction
Leadership is an important aspect of every organization. The theory of leadership has is strongly connected to authority, delegation and responsibility. This is because power in every organization is derived from some kind of source or arrangement. Hence, this arrangement or process requires someone to be given the power and authority in order to carry out the main vision and objectives of the entity. This is a form of delegation and every delegation comes with accountability or responsibility. Leadership therefore forms an important aspect of organizational philosophy. The purpose of this essay is to critically analyze the view of leadership and its conception in the field of criminal justice. It will critique the important definitions, concepts, styles and components of leadership in law enforcement and criminal justice.
Leadership in the Criminal Justice
Law enforcement has gone through some major transformations over the past two decades. Important issues and matters are now modified and changed. Some authorities identify that law enforcement has changed from patrolling and reacting to crime and circumstances that occurred. “Several new models for investigation, crime detection, crime control, homeland security and management demand a partnership with the community coupled with analytical skills”. This new approach indicates that investigation and crime detection are important elements and aspects of providing a community-based form of policing and this requires a high degree of leadership and management as a means of ensuring effective and efficient methods and systems of dealing with issues and matters relating to the control of the services of an given branch of policing.
Externally, the criminal justice system has been changed significantly and the rights of individual members of the society as well as various stakeholder requirements and expectations. This implies that the police service of every society will have to create a process and system for the definition of the right strategies and the implementation of these strategies to ensure that the police service of a relevant jurisdiction works to achieve the desired ends and results. This is because quality leadership practices are based on various ideas and concepts and this will lead to various strategies and processes that ought to be controlled and manned by a leader and/or a set of people with responsibility requirements.
Leadership has various dimensions and it brings together formal and informal roles and activities that ought to be streamlined and discharged in order to deal with specific goals and objectives in the police service. This implies that leadership in the police service cuts across the different requirements and the different frameworks of policing. And this requires a lot of competencies and activities that are meant to bring to bear the right attitudes and processes in order to complete specific tasks and attain specific ends.
Definition of Leadership
Peter Drucker presents two facades of management and leadership. On one level, Drucker argues that management is equal to efficiency whilst leadership is about effectiveness and achieving results. However, aside this broad framework, there is a challenge of defining what leadership really is.
In most books and journals, leadership is defined as the ability to influence people to move from one point to another. This is a seemingly ambiguous view which comes with various complications about how leadership exists in the police service. This is because there are different facades and views of what leadership is, and what it should actually be. Baker identifies that there are three facades of leadership and this includes:
- Character;
- Knowledge and
- Skills
In terms of character, leadership is seen as an in-born attitude that people acquire at birth. Hence, we get the common term that a person is a “natural-born” leader. This implies that the individual is seen as a person who has leadership qualities and as the person carries out leadership roles, these qualities become conspicuous and they influence the way he orders people and gets them to carry out their individual tasks.
Another view of leadership is that it is about knowing and understanding various activities and processes. This is a system through which a person has an insight into the various techniques and competencies necessary to get people to do things they are supposed to do. This typically involves human relations knowledge, and other things that gets them to influence others.
Skills involve the attainment of practical competencies in managing people and their performance. This implies that a leader has the important abilities to lead and guide people in order to get them to achieve the relevant ends that an organization needs. This includes strategizing, leading operations and acquiring the right tactics in law enforcement that enables a person to become productive and influential in the role that individual is connected with.
Leadership is strongly related to the concept of power and how it is derived in an organizational setting and this is relevant to the police service. Some authorities identify that there is the hard power and the soft power. Hard power has to do with the authority and competency granted to a given person due to the legitimate authority granted by the law. Therefore, in the police service, this has to do with the ranks and leadership structure that is conspicuously viewed by saluting trends and practices that is found in every station.
Aside this obvious hard power, there is the soft power which includes various kinds of authority that comes with the ability to influence people. This includes referent power and expert power which are closely related with various informal and other recognizable competencies that come with relevant knowledge abilities and skill competencies in every situation. Reward power is a form of hard power that is important to coerce various constituents of the followership base of an organization.
Therefore, leadership in the police service is one that comes with various views and various competency levels. Each of them will have to be discharged in a function that will combine different activities and processes in order to present the right level of results in the service. This implies that the concept of leadership in law enforcement is a complicated matter and situation that does not have a rigid and clear definition that is accepted universally.
Traits of Leadership
The trait leadership model draws a balance between Distal (Trait-like) and Proximal (State-like). This includes two views and two ideas that relate to the internal competencies and activities of a given individual and a given person and how he does things. This includes important activities and processes that are carried out by people who are in leadership positions and leadership roles. There is also proximal approach which is a state-like system based on the realities that occur. This includes the personality of an individual, the motivations for attaining results and the realities of the circumstances at hand. Therefore, the personal features of an individual and the development of the individual provides the basis for the application of this model.
The trait-like approach is important because it is about the activities and processes that define the results and competencies of a given police officer. This is because it is about the innate and real abilities of a given leader or a given person. The trait of leadership in the police service is strongly linked to the ethics of policing formulated by the International Association of Police Chiefs which includes amongst other things:
- Primary responsibility of representing the government;
- Professionalism;
- Objectivity;
- Discretion;
- Reasonable use of force;
- Confidentiality;
- Integrity;
- Cooperation with other authorities in the criminal justice system;
- Exemplary lifestyle
These are primary obligations and responsibilities that every police officer operating in the United States must honor. These are basic principles and ideas that guide the way police officers act to protect lives and properties in a given nation. Leadership in the context of policing implies setting up realistic strategies and themes for the attainment of the specific needs and expectations of the community and doing this within this broad context of ethical rules and regulations. Therefore, in the technical sense, a police officer who has leadership obligations will have to ensure that the realities of the service is delivered as expected and at the same time, there should be the adherence to these ethical requirements in order to achieve the best results.
Baker identifies that “the leader must possess professional character traits that include courage, competence and integrity”. This implies that there must be a high degree of courage and inspiration that a leader offers to his followers. This includes both formal and informal arrangements that are carried out by the leader in order to get the subordinates to overcome various limitations including fear and anxiety. Through this, they are able to combine the fundamental requirements of their practice in order to achieve specified results and expectations in discharging their duties and obligations. This allows a given police unit to work to meet targets and expectations. Courage is inspired and presented through the psychological impact made by a given leader to his followers and subordinates.
Competence is about the arts and science of carrying out the leadership roles and obligations. This comes with education and experience that builds the abilities and competencies of a given leader in a police unit. Therefore, a police officer in a leadership role will have to develop his ability to analyze issues and lead various units and components of the groups of people under him or her. This provides the impetus for the conduct of various forms of strategy formulation and tactical activities in a way and manner that is consistent with the principles of best practice and the quest to attain optimum results in the police service.
Integrity involves the ability of a leader in the police and criminal justice system to evaluate and assess important matters and situations in an ethical framework and ensure that all moral and legal obligations and expectations are discharged. This involves streamlining the subordinates of a given leader in order to attain the best results and to meet all the expectations of various stakeholders in a given community. Integrity has to do with working within a framework of holistic activities in which all considerations are taken into account and the right things are done in order to achieve the best results.
The main traits and activities that are important and necessary for the attainment of the best leadership standards and expectations in the police service include various processes like:
- Respect for diversity;
- Teamwork;
- Community focus;
- Effective communication;
- Problem solving;
- Personal responsibility and
- Resilience
These different processes and stages in the police service involve carrying out activities in order to respect important elements of society like diversity and inclusion. This must be done to promote the collectivization and streamlining of efforts of different members of the team and also a focus on the most important needs of the community. Effective communication and the right command structure ensures that problem solving is carried out. Also, personal responsibility must be placed individually on members of the team. This will enable the entire team to achieve the best results and also own up to their actions and inactions in order to promote better results. Resilience refers to the situation whereby members of the team carry out their activities in order to respond to issues and maintain a strong attitude and resolve towards completing projects and activities.
Styles of Leadership
Most authorities identify three main levels of leadership that defines the style of leadership that is utilized. They include: traits, behavioral/styles and situation or function. These three features and three levels of leadership components come together to define the main approach and the main system through which an individual or organization is ran and led by a given manager or authorities. Therefore, a police officer’s leadership processes and trends will be based on the main elements of innate and other circumstantial factors that will define the approach used by the leader. However, the most convenient approach and method of defining leadership processes and system is the situational model which provides a somewhat contingent process and system through which leadership can be viewed and analyzed.
Situational leadership is the main method and approach for conducting leadership activities and processes in the police service. This is because most of the police departments and units will have to carry out their activities in order to respond to the realities and circumstances that exist in a given jurisdiction for a given police authority. This involves the integration of different features and different circumstances that exists in order to carry out the tasks and activities necessary to achieve specific results.
These different approaches and combinations provide a framework and process for the conduct and analysis of leadership styles and leadership processes that guide and control the approaches and roles used by leaders use in running different police units and components. This allows them to plan and plot the approach and method they can use in dealing with important processes and systems for achieving results.
Conclusion
This study examines the concept of leadership and how it exists in the criminal justice system of the United States. Leadership in the police service of the current era is modified significantly due to the changes in the legal systems and structures that occur in society. This is because the police system and the police processes are very unique and distinct from how it was ran in the past. There are many considerations and expectations that ought to be put in place in order to deal with important matters and issues.
It is identified that in dealing with the criminal justice system appropriately, there is the need for the personality traits of the individual in question to be done. Also, there is the need for development and enhancement of a given leader in the criminal justice system to be conducted this gives the impetus for the attainment of education and experience which helps the leader to carry out his or her activities in the top positions according the principles of best practice. Integrity is an important part and an important aspect of the police service and this must be integrated into ethics because it allows a given leader to gain the right skills and competencies in order to achieve the best results. This includes ethical considerations and stakeholder sensitivity in achieving results and carrying out activities.
There are different styles of leadership. The situational approach involves the blend of task and other human relations approaches and methods necessary for a police officer to carry out his or her activities. This culminates in a group of processes and activities that defines the way a given leader in the police service can be assessed and reviewed for the attainment of the best and most appropriate results.
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