The Reflection To Bring People Together To Work In Law Enforcement

Leadership is the ability to bring people together while motivating and inspiring them to work as a team to achieve a common goal. There have been several leadership influences in my life. From a very young age, I watched my father lead his troops while serving as a senior enlisted member of the U.S. Army. I saw how he held them accountable for doing their jobs on one hand while mentoring them and giving them the direction they needed, sometimes almost like a father figure on the other. Working for four different law enforcement agencies over the last twenty-seven years, I have been exposed to several supervisors, some good and some not so good. Looking back on it, I believe my leadership philosophy has been influenced more by the bad supervisors

I have seen supervisors that held no one accountable for anything. I have seen some that would not deal with any problems between members in their unit and were commonly referred to as the “ostrich” because they kept their head in the sand and pretended there were no issues. I have seen first hand how that type of leadership also damaged morale and unit cohesion. One interesting thing that I have noticed over the years is that almost every true leader I have encountered in law enforcement was consequently a military veteran. My current supervisor is a former marine and a good example of a true leader. He is one of the first I have had that consistently strives to do the right thing for the right reason and is not quick to jump to conclusions when he hears something he needs to address. He will take the time to find out all of the details before reacting and enlists sound judgment and common sense from other supervisors before he acts. Interestingly enough, he and I have had similar experiences with former military supervisors versus supervisors with no military experience and he is quick to agree that there is some undefined difference about a supervisor with past military

My leadership philosophy is to lead by example, I believe as a leader you are always being watched and what you do and how you do it matter. I let my people know the first day they come into my unit, what to expect from me and what I expect from them. We have a long discussion about my management style and how with freedom (to conduct their investigations how they see fit) come responsibility (keeping me in the loop and understanding when they need to get with me about an issue). I hold them accountable for performing their duties in a professional and proficient manner. I believe leaders should empower the members of their organization to make decisions at the lowest level possible. As a leader, it stops being about you and becomes all about your people. I believe while the accomplishment of the mission is the number one priority, taking care of your people comes a very close second. I believe in putting my members first in everything from equipment and vehicles to time off and I can tell they notice and appreciate things like that. I believe in acting as a buffer between them and my boss I can temper things that are passed down that don’t always make sense. I have had former members come to me and tell me that they had no idea how much I was keeping the bosses out of their investigations until they had a different supervisor that didn’t care. That is the way it should be. A leader doesn’t look for accolades from his members, he takes care of them behind the scenes,