NCJ Number
226528
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 75 Issue: 12 Dated: December 2008 Pages: 68-73,75
Date Published
December 2008
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article emphasizes the vital importance of midlevel-manager decisionmaking in police work and shows how the processes of accountability-driven leadership can greatly influence positive decision outcomes.
Abstract
When a law enforcement agency embraces the philosophy of accountability-driven leadership in a manner built on strong, reliable data combined with a CompStat model, the agency’s efficiency, effectiveness, and credibility in the community its serves is significantly enhanced. Quality decisionmaking at the mid-management level is critical to this process. The creation of the Patrol Shift Lieutenant Effectiveness Report in the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) gives top management the quality assurance that finite resources are being deployed and directed in a strategic, purposeful way. The Report, offering an overview of the complex daily duties and responsibilities of patrol shift supervisors, assists in holding these important leaders accountable to the agency’s goals and objectives. Patrol shift lieutenants are ideally situated in the organizational scheme to influence and drive cultural change and expectations in many areas of policing. Accountability-driven leadership provides a strategy for personal and agency-wide success. This article explains the process by which the MNPD precinct shift lieutenants’ quality decisions are monitored in the furtherance of the agency’s goals, through the creation and development of the Patrol Shift Lieutenant Effectiveness Report. 1 table and 4 notes