myAIPMTransformational Police Leadership
John Robison | Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police
"Law enforcement leaders face an ongoing challenge of creating a culture that is conducive to not only keeping quality officers, but attracting new, qualified candidates as well. This challenge has recently been heightened with the drastic changes seen in the perception of law enforcement throughout our society and country. It’s becoming more and more difficult to not only attract good police candidates, but also retain quality officers. To consistently achieve this, agency leaders must create a work environment that provides officers with a high degree of satisfaction and commitment to the organization.
Research has shown the level of job satisfaction an employee enjoys is directly correlated with their commitment to an organization. Several factors impact the level of a police officer’s job satisfaction. First, the level of support a department provides its employees has a tremendous impact on officers’ job satisfaction. This includes the officers’ perception that department management is invested and interested in their professional and personal welfare. A study by the Pew Research Center found only three in ten police officers are supportive of their department’s upper management’s leadership approach (Morin, Parker, Stepler & Mercer, 2017). Because of this, police leaders have to be especially mindful of the inherent lack of trust line level officers have toward police management.
Police chiefs and command staff must also be cognizant of the importance of job satisfaction as it relates to officer productivity and commitment. There is no greater indicator of how well an employee produces than their satisfaction on the job (Macdonald, Kelly & Christen, 2019)."
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Transformational Police Leadership, John Robison, Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, 2020