Joseph Schafer
Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Southern Illinois University
Key Findings
- Effective leader traits included integrity, work ethic, communication, and care for personnel.
- Participants described the ideal leadership process as a mixture of training and education, experience, and feedback.
- Respondents reported the largest barriers to effective leadership and leadership practices in the police industry were cultural, structural and political, not fiscal.
Description
In the article, “Effective Leaders and Leadership in Policing: Traits, Assessment, Development and Expansion,” Schafer examines police leadership to understand contemporary policing and barriers to more effective policing. Schafer conducted his study by surveying more than 1,000 police supervisors that attended the FBI National Academy (NA), where police officers learn career development from FBI personnel as well as University of Virginia courses. This sample group represented a diverse set of participants geographically and by the type of police agency. The results showed that effective leader traits included integrity, work ethic, communication, and care for personnel. Participants described the ideal leadership process as a mixture of training and education, experience, and feedback. The most surprising finding was that respondents reported the largest barriers to effective leadership and leadership practices in the police industry were cultural, structural and political, not fiscal. Schafer notes that development programs need to help mentor and guide officers rather than only exposing them to new theories.