Is the Leadership Development Important For All In The Police Profession? Why or Why Not
Is the Leadership Development Important For All In The Police Profession? Why or Why Not
According to Ortmeier and Meese (2009), all police officers need leadership development to deal with law enforcement and public safety challenges and issues of the 21st century effectively. They must possess leadership skills regardless of position or rank. This is whether they want to be leaders or not. Police officers need leadership competence to implement police strategies that are consistent with expectations on social order. All police officers must be able make decisions, motivate others, resolve conflicts, plan, organize and set goals and express their personal and professional integrity. This means that police officers need help to develop essential leadership skills. Police officers become able to enhance the public perception of the police and assist with the creation of solutions to community problems through taking leadership development seriously. Ortmeier and Meese (2009) provide them with a guide for developing comprehensive leadership skills that are applicable to all police ranks. They identified that use of training, education, and experience is not enough to develop leadership skills, ethics, and policing. College and police academy only develop skills in human relations, critical thinking, communication, and problem solving. Police officers have so much power that can help secure and maintain public safety and order when used efficiently. They need more than experience, training, and education. Research by Ortmeier & Meese (2009) shows this can be possible through developing leadership.
The police is an executive branch of the government responsible for preventing crime and disorder and enforcing legislatively enacted statutes. People grant them the civil authority to enforce rules in the society over the opposition of individuals. Police officers need a considerable amount of discretion to carry out their mission. They have a duty to serve the law, support constitutional safeguards, and serve the public. The police has to be objective, service oriented, accountable, respectable, and democratic. These make them professional law enforcement officers. Police officers are evaluated according to goals and standards set for police behavior. Leadership development includes the diverse behaviors that are expected from the police and concepts and models that provide standards by which actions of police officers are to be evaluated. Ortmeier, P. & Meese, E. (2009) identified that dealing with law enforcement and public safety challenges and issues of the 21st century effectively begins from recruiting, selecting, and training police officers on the basis of leadership potential.
Reference
Ortmeier, P. & Meese, E. (2009). Leadership, ethics, and policing: challenges for the 21st Century (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Prentice Hall PTR.
