Leadership concepts and applications

Criminal Justice

Leadership in criminal justice or private security organizations requires special skills, and presents unique challenges. The most important attributes for leaders in any criminal justice or security organization include integrity, trustworthiness, competence, swiftness in decision making, ability to be humble, and also the ability to be courageous (McCallum, n.d.). In addition to these traits, leaders in criminal justice are ideally visionary, with strong communications skills and loads of self-confidence to face the specific challenges the field entails. Criminal justice presents special legal and political challenges that are distinct to the profession, and this is also true for private security work. Likewise, the hierarchical nature of many criminal justice organizations makes it so that conflict and power may constrain a leader's ability to act justly. Therefore, criminal justice leaders can learn from observing what successful leaders have done in the past and apply that to their current careers.

There are also specific issues that present significant challenges to leaders in criminal justice. For example, budget deficits and constraints will continually plague the ability of leaders in criminal justice to do what they feel or even know is best (Wickman, Mahoney & Borakove, n.d.). Budgetary concerns can also restrict the ability of private sector security leaders to act, but in the private sector, there are greater opportunities for acquiring funding. Public service criminal justice leaders rely on an often cacophonous team of administrators from departments with conflicting but intersecting ideals. Multi-disciplinary committees are helpful for strategizing, but it is critical that criminal justice leaders understand how to achieve the goals of their departments while also working together with leaders from other agencies or organizations. Politics are bound to confound even the most skilled of criminal justice leader. A leader must be patient as well as savvy in public relations and communications. Tact, sensitivity, and flexibility may all be important traits to have.

The diversity of the organization can be its greatest strength, but also its Achilles' heel. Leaders know how to manage a diverse team skillfully, disavowing prejudice and bias of any type and making sure all employees feel safe and comfortable at all times so that they can maximize their potential. Leaders take care to avoid "boys club" attitudes and behaviors and create an organizational culture that preserves core traditions while also embracing change. The generation gap might prove especially challenging for leaders who contend with younger and more progressive team members that disagree with the older officers. This is a delicate balance, because there are some features of the organizational hierarchy that work, but others that do not. Many employees will resist change, and the leader needs to be strong and decisive when making critical alterations to procedure, human resources, or operations.

Other issues of concern include the rapidly changing nature of law enforcement and security work. Technology, for instance, is changing regularly and rapidly. How to budget for technology, which technologies to invest in, and which departments to favor, are all political decisions that can have a strong bearing on the success of the team (Batts, Smoot & Scrivner, 2012). Likewise, the leader needs to account for the costs of additional training for employees when new technologies are being introduced. There will be some resistance to using new technologies among some team members, but not others, requiring a skillful use of mentoring programs and systematic training sessions. Leaders are encouraged to be progressive in their thinking about technology, but also empathetic to the concerns being raised by officers.

Shifting political climates are also challenging to the security or criminal justice leader. Policies change, related to everything from drug policy and border control to counterterrorism policy and approaches to gang violence. Criminal justice leaders are in the position of acting as a liaison between the system and community, and must create public service messages regularly to ensure that there is a high degree of trust among community residents.

The steps I can take personally as a criminal justice or security professional to affect change for the future include the following. First, I can shadow a leader in my field to learn from someone with great experience. A mentoring experience provides an invaluable learning tool, and will help improve my confidence and communications skills. I can also use this opportunity to forge relationships and understand how to leverage political ties.