Police Leadership in a Democracy: Conversations with America's Police Chiefs (Modern Police Administration)

186 Pages·2009·1.85 MB·English

by  James Isenberg

Police Leadership
in a Democracy
Conversations with
America’s Police Chiefs
Modern Police
Administration
Series Editor:
Gary Cordner, PhD.
Professor, Kutztown University
Commissioner, Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA)
Deputy Editors:
Theron Bowman, PhD Gary Margolis, EdD
Chief of Police, Arlington, Texas Research Associate Professor,
Commissioner, Commission on University of Vermont Commissioner,
Accreditation for Law Enforcement Commission on Accreditation for
Agencies (CALEA) Law Enforcement Agencies
Ed Connors, JD Darrel Stephens, MS
President, Institute for Law & Justice Director of State and Local Programs,
Johns Hopkins University Former Chief
Larry Hoover, PhD
of Police, Charlotte–Mecklenburg,
Professor, Sam Houston State University North Carolina
Past President, Academy of Criminal
Justice Sciences
Published Titles:
Police Leadership in a Democracy: Conversations with
America’s Police Chiefs
Jim Isenberg
Police Leadership
in a Democracy
Conversations with
America’s Police Chiefs
Jim Isenberg, Ph.D.
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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Isenberg, James.
Police leadership in a democracy : conversations with America’s police chiefs / James
Isenberg.
p. cm. -- (Modern police administration)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4398-0834-4
1. Police chiefs--United States. 2. Police administration--United States. 3.
Police--United States. I. Title. II. Series.
HV8141.I75 2009
363.2068’4--dc22 2009010250
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
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and the CRC Press Web site at
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Table of Contents
Modern Police Administration ix
Series Editor x i
Deputy Editors xiii
About the Author x v
Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xix
Introduction xxi
1 Choices of Police Leaders in America 1
Policing: An Evolving American Institution 1
Leadership as a Balancing Act: “Walking the Razor’s Edge” 4
Strategies to Reduce Crime While Protecting the Public 4
Community Policing 5
Broken Windows 6
Problem-Solving Policing 6
Measuring Performance and Results Internally 7
Communicating the Vision: Building and Managing a Team 8
Police Leadership Training 8
Internal Police Culture 9
Police Unions 10
Supervision and Internal Accountability 11
External Relations and Political Challenges 11
Community Relationship Building 11
Political Pressures 12
Accountability and Performance Measures 13
Private Security Services 14
Significance of the Role of the Police Leader 14
2 Introducing the Police Chiefs 1 7
Profiles of the Police Chiefs 17
Significance of Discussion: Why This Group of Police Leaders? 23
v
vi Table of Contents
3 A Vision for the Department and the
Community 2 5
Police Leadership in a Democracy: What Does This Mean? 27
Consistency of the Chief’s Message 29
The Police Chief’s Vision Provides the Balance for Success 31
Challenges to the Leader’s Vision: External and Internal Pressures 33
Significance of the Vision of the Police Leader 36
4 Implementing the Vision: How Chiefs Make It a
Reality 3 9
Diagnosis of the Problems: A Primary Task of the Chief 41
Active Persuasion: Gathering Support for the Vision 43
Police Leadership: It Can Be a Lonely Job 44
Significance of Implementing the Vision 48
5 Strategies for Enforcement and Working with
Communities 5 1
Community Policing and Police Accountability 51
Community Policing or Can You Arrest Your Way Out of Crime? 56
Bringing the Police and Community Together: How It Can Work 61
Significance of the Police Department’s Relationship with the
Community 68
6 Developing a Professional Police Officer: It’s a
Challenge 7 1
Police Training and Its Link to Leadership 73
A College Degree and Its Value to a Police Officer 74
Promoting an Officer’s Ability to Communicate with People 77
Sergeants and Their Importance to the Chiefs’ Leadership Efforts 79
Significance of Training and Its Impact on the Department 83
7 Internal Politics, the Police Chief, and Police
Officer Empowerment 85
Chiefs’ Experience with Police Unions 86
Strategies for Working with the Union 89
Chiefs Confront Officer Empowerment Challenges 92
Morale, Empowerment, and Officer Performance 96
Chiefs’ Final Thoughts on Police Unions and Officer
Empowerment 100
Table of Contents vii
Significance of Internal Politics and Police Leadership 102
8 External Politics and Relationships with Other
Partners 103
The Chief’s Relationship with the Mayor: Another Challenge
of Leadership 103
Lessons Learned about the Relationship with Mayors 106
Watchdog Committees and Departmental Oversight 111
Significance of the Working Relations with the Police Chief’s
Partners 113
9 The Future of American Policing: Looking Back
and Forward 115
Reflections about Leadership and Change 115
Current and Future Challenges 120
What It Takes to Be a Successful Police Leader 125
10 Recommendations for Police Chiefs and All
People Interested in Supporting a Democracy 129
Notes 133
Suggested Reading 135
Appendix A: Police Chief Participant List 139
Appendix B: Demographics of Police Chiefs’ Cities 141
Appendix C: Methodology of Study 145
Index 153

Modern Police
Administration
The books in this series are each focused on a specific police administra-
tion topic. The premise of the Modern Police Administration series is simple:
Today’s police administrators, and those preparing for such responsibilities,
although they are currently served by a handful of introductory texts, have
access to few books that go into detail on specific topics such as police recruit-
ment, managing training, police media relations, or managing Compstat.
There may be a few articles on these topics, a training program or two, and
some expert consultants, but little in the way of full-length documentation.
Back in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, much of the early literature on polic-
ing was focused on police administration, including textbooks by the legend-
ary O. W. Wilson and articles in such respected periodicals as the Journal of
Criminal Law, Criminology & Police Science, and the Journal of Police Science
and Administration. Pioneering college programs at Washington State
University, Michigan State University, and a few other schools also focused
on police science and police administration. During this professional era of
police development, much of the emphasis was on figuring out how to run a
police agency more efficiently.
But then the field shifted its attention. The focus of reformers turned to
such key issues as racial discrimination, community relations, police dis-
cretion, and police use of force. Researchers began to study both individ-
ual police behavior and police strategies more closely. In higher education,
degree programs evolved toward the broader perspectives of criminal justice
and criminology, whereas police administration became nothing more than
a single course, often an elective. Since the 1990s, the new strategies and par-
adigms of community policing, problem-oriented policing, and intelligence-
led policing have dominated the attention of police executives, educators,
and researchers.
These changes have been very good for policing and for communities.
Police behavior today is better regulated than in the past, police use of force
and pursuit driving are guided by careful policies and procedures, and police
strategies are more often based on solid evidence about what works (and what
doesn’t). Police agencies are more diverse and more representative of their
communities than ever before. The police field today is much more scientific,
professional, and accountable than most other public services.
ix