Leadership Behaviours for Effective Policing

An essential handbook of policing leadership behavioural skills for both professional police officers and policing students aspiring to join the force. The behaviours examined are of relevance to all ranks and roles, from a newly appointed police constable to an executive officer.

Behavioural soft skills are essential to effective policing practice and professional development, and are particularly significant in leadership and management roles. This handbook examines the key leadership behaviours and focuses on discreet aspects within policing as well as describing a career timeline. In addition it provides a unique opportunity for leaders to articulate the effects the Covid-19 pandemic has had on law enforcement, examining the impact on policing behaviours and what the blockages are.

Each chapter is written by a well-established serving police leader or policing scholar, bringing together a wealth of experience and understanding and applying this knowledge in context through key case studies and examples. It bridges the gap between theory and practice so readers can apply what they have learnt to their policing roles and effectively formulate and describe their own leadership philosophy and style.

This is a companion book to Behavioural Skills for Effective Policing.              

1. Introduction: so what? 
2. Influence and persuasion: the contribution of psychologists 
3. Leading policing volunteers 
4. Police performance management: back to the future 
5. Policing behaviours in a patriarchal society 
6. Leading with political awareness 
7. Values-based leadership in a performance driven world 
8. Influencing without authority; the importance of systems thinking
9. Personal and organisational accountability 
10. Police professionalisation and culture 
11. The ethical police leader 
12. Operational leadership: from day-to-day policing to post incident management 
13. Leaders are dealers in hope: personal reflections of police leadership and reform 
14. Navigating in a stormy sea 
15. Leading without authority

Mark Kilgallon has spent the last 30 years helping to develop leaders in the public and private sectors. A successful executive coach and mentor, he combines a passionate drive for performance with a deep rooted connection to strong ethical values. He has designed and delivered leadership development programmes around the world and has substantial experience in creating executive development events that confront the current and future challenges facing leaders. He is presently working with a number of police forces delivering his Critical Shifts programme. He was the designer of the Strategic Command Course (UK) for over a decade. Mark has a strong commitment to emotional intelligence as an ethical leadership model and he works intensely with individuals to help them fully explore the positive impact they can have on those they lead. He is interested in the concept of ‘informal leadership’ and has helped organisations explore the utility that this approach can bring to performance improvement. Mark has academic interests in formal and informal leadership, organisational cultures and power dynamics within teams.

Martin Wright is a Visiting Fellow at the International Centre for Policing and Security, University of South Wales. He was a police officer for 30 years and is the creator of the Retail Radio Link community safety programme. After leaving the police he joined the University of Wolverhampton in 2008 where he was the Director of the Central Institute for the Study of Public Protection and Head of Department of Uniformed Services with responsibility for the BSc Policing degree, BSc Fire & Rescue degree and BSc Armed Forces degree. He currently holds a number of other positions: Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Canterbury Centre for Policing Research within Canterbury Christ Church University; Series Editor of the Routledge Advances in Police Practice and Knowledge; editor of Critical Publishing's 'The Service Speaks’ series; and managing editor and book review editor of the Oxford Journal of Policing. He is a volunteer with Dyfed Powys Police.