Preferred Types of Leadership by Police Rank and File

This section is dedicated to all the men and women in law enforcement, and the information comes from opinions and input put forth by police officers throughout my 30 year career as a cop and eight years in the Marines. The recommendations do not come from analysis or qualitative data, but reflect the beliefs and opinions of multiple thousands of officers I have encountered. So much is written on what a police leader should be, but little is known about what the rank and file consider a good boss or bad one, and would be a worthy topic for future research. 

First, police officers perceive their role much differently than the civilian population, city managers, and politicians. The police world involves dealing with the 10 percent of the population that create chaos in society, and ultimately experience and perceptions distort their view of the world. Many officers believe there are cops, and then there is the rest of those other people that comprise society – an “us v. them” mentality. This belief is deeply seeded within each officer beginning at the academy, and continues to grow until retirement. When an officer is asked by the prosecuting attorney their recommendation at sentencing, the officer often replies by stating the suspect sentenced should be “flat, stacked, and max,” which means the bad guy should receive no early release from prison, the sentences should be served consecutively not concurrently, and the suspect should receive the maximum sentence allowed by law. Remember, cops have been fighting the bad guys 20 to 35 years, are burned out, and tired of hearing stories in which suspects receiving early release reenter society only to commit more crimes. Further, officers have had their friends shot and killed by suspects, killed by drunk drivers, have been called every possible derogatory term imaginable by people, and frankly believe that criminals are animals that deserve what they get. The Supreme Court of the United States determined that police officers cannot be offended by words because their job is to deal with criminals, and their work function immunes them from being offended.

I could paint a picture from my experiences, and the experiences of fellow officers that would make your skin crawl. If you were to ask a city manager, mayor, or city councilman what makes a good police chief, the answers would be remarkably different from what you would hear from the rank and file of the police force. City council, mayors, governors, and the like operate within a world in which they must retain their value to the population because their job literally depends upon it. If you don’t keep the people happy, you won’t get re-elected. City managers also live in the political arena because most city managers answer to city council, and if the council is not happy, your job is on the line. Or, if the police chief angers the people, who contact the council and mayor, who need public support for re-election, the city manager better remove the chief if he or she wants to remain employed. Police action is not based on public opinion or support, it is based on clearly delineated statutes in state law.     

Police have no understanding or tolerance for politics and the arena in which politics are played out. Police view political officials as those who attempt to manipulate and influence public opinion through nebulously worded text representing limited truth, and are incapable of acting decisively on real issues and problems that deteriorate communities. Although police are granted great discretion, much of their work is decided on state statutes that regulate human conduct, and respond to behaviors that require immediate action – indecisiveness will get you killed. A wide chasm exists between the political officials conduct and police conduct, which in my view may never be reconciled. When police are called it is never for a good thing, if crimes are committed arrests are made, if the suspect fights the police, the officer must subdue the suspect, sometimes with lethal force, and experience proves that no person alive is beyond reproach. Police lay their lives down for people they do not know, enforce the law equitably, and protect the rights of citizens – certainly not for favors, leverage, and influence to enhance their careers. Police prefer a world in which ambiguity is non-existent, you do the right thing without the shading of politics, you do what you say you will do, and have the courage to fight battles the majority would not fight.       

The rank and file want a chief that fits their perception of what a police chief should be. Most police officers want a cop’s cop, a person that can lead fearlessly because officers face fear every day, and must learn to deal with it, overcome it, and continue forward through it. Officers want a chief who has performed the work, and not one that was promoted up the ranks through administrative assignments. Remember, most police departments are comprised of more than 50 percent of patrol personnel, the front lines of police work, the first responders engaged in more than 95 percent of use of force incidents, and want a leader who understands and remembers what it is like to fight for your life or for someone else, and one that will support their appropriate actions in use of force encounters. The officers want a chief who can lead the way because he or she has been successful in fighting crime – fighting crime is the number one concern for cops, nothing else. Fighting crime is why cops become cops. The chief must be fair and equitable in administrating discipline, and promote assistant chiefs, commanders, lieutenants, and sergeants based on talent, expertise, and leadership qualities, and not out of friendships, nepotism, and cronyism. Remember, administrating justice on the streets must be fair and equitable, and the same rules apply within the organization. 

Few if any studies exist concerning the rank and files view of what a police chief should be. Future research regarding this topic would better serve police departments, hiring agencies, and municipalities seeking a police chief. I can assure you that if the cops like the chief, they will work their tails off to please the chief. We all know what happens when the rank and file do not like the chief – all loose. City councils, city managers, and mayors would do well to speak with the rank and file to determine what type of chief would do best for their city, and why. Most of the rank and file believe that the city manager gets it wrong most of the time.