Leadership Development Plan:
Leadership Development Plan:
Policing in the Modern World
Police Personnel Administration
Dr. Anthony Anderson
Law enforcement work has evolved greatly over the years - from its early introduction in Colonial America with the use of Sheriffs, who collected taxes and enforced colonial laws, to today’s sophisticated large and widespread local, state, and federal agencies. Relative to the evolvement of law enforcement work, the type of candidate that police agencies seek to fill these employment slots has also changed drastically. Today in the United States candidates for police officer positions are put through a rigorous and strict hiring process to ensure strong applicants are picked for the openings. The hiring process is lengthy and usually includes written and physical exams, oral boards, a background investigation, medical and psychological screenings, and a polygraph test. All these steps are designed to remove unsuitable applicants. I feel that I possess several character traits and leadership qualities that would help me as a sworn police officer and a leader. However, there are aspects of my personality that could be improved to better my chances at being successful in that particular line of work. Some aspects of my character that I think would help me in a possible career in law enforcement are flexibility, intuition, patience, common sense, and I am a team player. Additionally, my leadership qualities, specifically integrity and perseverance would also benefit me in a possible career in law enforcement. Flexibility is important in the context that you never know what you will be asked and/or required to do. Every call you go on will differ from the last in some sort of aspect. Things could change moment by moment and you have to be able to adapt to those changes to effectively do your job. Flexibility also includes being able to deal with new equipment, new
Policing in the Modern World
Police Personnel Administration
Dr. Anthony Anderson
Law enforcement work has evolved greatly over the years - from its early introduction in Colonial America with the use of Sheriffs, who collected taxes and enforced colonial laws, to today’s sophisticated large and widespread local, state, and federal agencies. Relative to the evolvement of law enforcement work, the type of candidate that police agencies seek to fill these employment slots has also changed drastically. Today in the United States candidates for police officer positions are put through a rigorous and strict hiring process to ensure strong applicants are picked for the openings. The hiring process is lengthy and usually includes written and physical exams, oral boards, a background investigation, medical and psychological screenings, and a polygraph test. All these steps are designed to remove unsuitable applicants. I feel that I possess several character traits and leadership qualities that would help me as a sworn police officer and a leader. However, there are aspects of my personality that could be improved to better my chances at being successful in that particular line of work. Some aspects of my character that I think would help me in a possible career in law enforcement are flexibility, intuition, patience, common sense, and I am a team player. Additionally, my leadership qualities, specifically integrity and perseverance would also benefit me in a possible career in law enforcement. Flexibility is important in the context that you never know what you will be asked and/or required to do. Every call you go on will differ from the last in some sort of aspect. Things could change moment by moment and you have to be able to adapt to those changes to effectively do your job. Flexibility also includes being able to deal with new equipment, new
Cited: McCrimmon, Mitch. "What Is Leadership Integrity?" Suite101. Suite101, 11 2008. Web. 20 Nov 2012. . McNulty, E. W. (1994), Generating Common Sense Knowledge Among Police Officers. Symbolic Interaction, 17: 281–294. doi: 10.1525/si.1994.17.3.281 Sugarman, K. (2004) Understanding the Importance of Teamwork [WWW] Available from: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni13a2.htm [Accessed 20/11/2012]