Law Enforcement Leadership Essay

One of the largest issues plaguing police departments in United States is under staffing Under staffing has become ramp it all over the United States. Under staffing creates issues not only for officers with in a department but also within society as a whole. “The rate of sworn officers current habitats was 2.4 per 1000 in the nation in 2011. The rate of total full-time employees, civilian and sworn was 3.4 per 1000.” (Police Employee Data)

Individuals employed in the field of law enforcement face a special variety of workplace stressors that the majority of other careers do not encounter. Law enforcement officers are frequently exposed to traumatic experiences such as domestic violence, child abuse, horrific injuries, and other human traumas (Lucas, Weidner, and Janisse, 2012). There are also numerous perceived dangers in law enforcement, such as assaults on officers, homicide, and workplace accidents, which can add more stress (Brandl and Stroshine, 2003). In a study of 115 officers from a large department more than 60 common work stressors were identified including but not limited to: fear of being attacked or killed in the line of duty, inadequate supervision, public criticism, losing a fellow officer in the line of duty, an ineffective corrections system, the constant shift from bored to high stress, and workplace politics (Lucas, Weidner, and Janisse, 2012). The work stressors not only impact the law enforcement officer but can also disturb the harmony of the entire law enforcement family. Researchers have attempted to understand these unique stressors impacting law enforcement officers. They have found that because law enforcement officers often deal with daily extreme work stressors that can negatively impact them psychologically and physically it is in the best interest of the entire law enforcement family to seek professional counseling options to help alleviate stress.

Trying to discover the best way to maintain the level of professionalism based on policies and procedures that are the foundation of any Police department or Correctional facility. The men and women who work in these jobs are in the highest percentage of divorce, substance abuse, domestic violence, and suicide. The depth of stress, dangers

Some chronic stressors can occur in any organization, and a police department is no different. Some of these common stressors include: having to work weekends and holidays, having to work rotating shifts and odd hours, as well as there being internal conflict between two co-workers or between an employee and a supervisor (Hess, Orthmann, & LaDue, 2016). In addition to these stressors, there are also those that relate mostly to just law enforcement. One of the big chronic stressors in law enforcement is being in physical danger at times, as well as the constant fear and mental preparation of being in danger. Stress can also come from officers knowing that the well-being of others in on them (South University, 2016).

Working in law enforcement is very stressful whether it be from filing proper paper work on time, or the sole fact that every day that the officer leaves the station, there is no guarantee that they will return at the end of shift. However, this stress does not only impact the officer themselves, but also can have an effect on the outside relationships of these officers. Research has been done to look at different aspects of an officer’s life that would affect the outside relationships of officers. Most hypotheses state that stress and other outside factors have a major impact on the outside relationships of these officers.

The reason for this could be that everyone involved may be attempting to accomplish the same goals, but also trying to make sure that the outcome will be beneficial to them, such as a substantial bonus or a reward.

There are five main ethical issues that can arise within a leadership position of the law enforcement. The first and most important ethical issue is in regard to the way the leader upholds himself in the presence of their fellow police officers. In society, a police department is looked too often for assistance in solving problems that arise in the community. Because law enforcement holds the ability to infringe upon a citizen’s rights, the leadership must demonstrate a high level of integrity, fairness, and respect towards everyone. For example, say a supervisor is called out to a domestic violence situation involving a man and a woman that were fighting each other. After arriving, he approaches the male suspect, introduces himself and asks what is going on. Not only are the other

Kelley (2005) set out to answer the question of whether or not mental health illness in law enforcement officers could be predetermined and prevented by specific education and training. Considering my entire professional career has been in Public Safety, I can attest that there needs to be substantial processes in place to identify and treat police officers who are showing signs of mental and physical distress. Some strengths I noticed in the study was that Kelley attempted to have a diverse group of students as his subjects for the study who were criminal justice majors. The weakness of the study was apparent when the students did not take it seriously and answer truthfully, nor did they have any experience. It is also worth mentioning

Law enforcement officers are authorized to use different forces based on its situation. Officers face many circumstances during the period of their job when use of force is necessary. For example, making arrests, restraining unruled combatants, and while controlling disruptive situations. Incidents involving the use of excessive force by the police frequently receive media attentions, legislators and sometimes even criminal courts. To serve better for a community or country a small percentage of police interactions with citizens involve use of force to server better and protect others from illegal or criminal minds. NIJ- sponsored research explains that police custody arrests (handcuffing) used less than 20 percent of 7,512 arrests. Even in those cases police used weaponless techniques like grabbing or holding can be view as minor types of force statistics on police us of force on citizens. The further support by the research, it indicates that the incidents contain resistance by suspects, their injuries resulting from the police use of force were typically minor.

Scope: The Chief of Police, or his or her designee, shall be responsible for notifying the Office of the Director of Police (ODOP) in a timely manner should one of the events (or criminal attempts) occur, that are listed in ODOP policy 728, Director of Police: Timely Notification Guidelines, section IV.

This information is important because without cooperating law enforcement wouldn't be able to exist because cooperation is what builds up the team and the team helps to fight crimes that are committed. Police officers face challenges on a daily basis, but sometimes they have to face deadly challenges. Police officers are required to get 120 hours of training and the most specific required one is firearms shoot don't shoot scenarios use of force and legal training this requirement helps them prepare for any deadly movement, they might have to have while in duty but many officers finish without having to use deadly force (“Myths/Facts”). Dealing with pain is a part of their job with any worker working in law enforcement. It’s hard for them, but they love there job and stay committed to it. The world needs to thank them for their services because

Human factors influence polices in the BYOD practice in the workplace because for the most part employees are comfortable and prefer using their own devices compared to company issued devices as they can often multitask between personal and business access. The use of mobile devices comes with the consequences of the device being stolen, lost and exposed to threats. The possibility of these devices falling in the wrong hands or stranger not authorized access to data could result to harmful software application being uploaded or downloaded which could infect the device and compromise the network.

A bad day at the office for most people might result in a late report or missing an important deadline. A bad day at the office in law enforcement could result in death or great bodily harm. Officers put their lives on the line daily, challenging their mental stability, physical health, and emotional well-being. It’s been proven that individuals who work under these environments suffer from illnesses such as heart disease, obesity, depression and are often outlived by their peers with less stressful daily lives. (Griffith, 2014, pg.24) Because of the physical and emotional stressors related to a career in law enforcement, it is even more crucial to obtain a healthy lifestyle through managing stress, and placing an emphasis on personal nutritional

With my interest in mind, I read the exploratory study on ideal leadership behavior published by the journal of police sciences and management, published in 2010. The article surveyed 126 police supervisors who attended a Southern police institute in 2007 for the ideal characteristics they would like in a supervisor (Andreescu & Vito, 2010).

Ask the question, “Where is the agency bleeding?” If an agency has experienced negative media attention or civil litigation as a result of poor officer performance, this model will help leaders discover which incidents create the greatest opportunity for the negative results they are trying to mitigate. Vehicular pursuits, arrests involving the use of force, and confrontations with combative subjects during mental health–related calls are the most prominent areas where law enforcement agencies have experienced loss. The agency’s first step toward employing BWCs for risk management involves identifying the incident types that have been most problematic for the agency. Review the agency’s loss data to determine what types of incidents historically have had the greatest negative affect on officer safety and civil liability. Once this high-risk critical incident list is generated, agency leaders should require selected supervisory personnel to conduct a mandatory review of all incidents that fall under these categories.