Leadership and Ethics in Law Enforcement
Chapter 1: Notes in Class, Cont.
8/25/10
Successful people and organizations exhibit superior performance when they are able to combine
both processes continuously and reinvent themselves
Examples:
Police must react quickly and instinctively in complex crisis situations (Complexity Theory)
Police organizations evolve gradually in the shift from traditional to community policing
(Evolutionary Theory)
Change in modern society poses particular problems for police.
Traditionally, the police have experienced difficulty in keeping pace.
Conventional methods of policing changed little.
3 decades from 1950-1970s communities went under extensive change.
Why?
Individual rights, immigration, Vietnam war, expanding crime rates, etc.
Typical police response was reactive and bureaucratic
Little imaginative or strategic thinking
This inflexibility blocked creativity
Change presents opportunity
3 major areas of change signified this potential for improvement
1. Community Policing
2. Technological Progress
3. Professionalization and Accountability
Most importantly, the above three changes permeated down to the patrol officer who came into
daily contact with individual citizens and the neighborhood in which citizens live.
What is the basic purpose of policing?
What responsibilities do the police have?
What capabilities should they possess?
What contributions should the police make into society?
