Emotional Intelligence and Strategic Planning in Policing

Emotional and Social Intelligence in Law Enforcement

Emotional and social intelligence are extremely important to modern policing and the characteristics of contemporary officers. Without emotional and social intelligence, police officers risk standing alone, hostile to their environments, as they attempt to solve and prevent crime. According to the research, emotional intelligence "is the ability to interpret, understand, and manage one's own and others' emotions" (Saville, 2006). In essence, emotional intelligence is the ability to cognitively understand others' well-being and emotions — it is effectively empathy on behalf of officers serving within a community. Saville (2012) also suggests that emotional intelligence "is not about becoming emotionally detached; it is about becoming emotionally mature and confident."

Modern officers also need social intelligence, which is the ability to remain in tune with society despite potential cultural or racial differences. According to Williams (2012), social intelligence is built on social awareness, increasing our ability to relate to one another based on our understanding of society and the cultures that live and reside within it (Swanson, 2012). When an officer has a high level of social intelligence, that officer is well informed of the cultural characteristics of those within his or her district. Having such a high level of intelligence increases their ability to work with the community and effectively find solutions in preventing crime and enforcing the law.

Yet despite the clear importance of emotional and social intelligence in a contemporary law enforcement environment, both have largely been ignored by modern agencies. Research suggests that "often, academy educators believe it is field trainers who help new officers through emotionally charged and stressful situations. Departments occasionally provide stress management programs or use untrained mentors to help officers manage their emotions. But few of these approaches consider emotional intelligence" (Saville, 2006). Thus, there are very few resources for those in law enforcement to turn to when they need emotional support in maintaining an appropriate emotional state in the field. This, combined with low social intelligence, creates an emotionally unstable police force and can lead to problems dealing with community members. Still, advancements in technology are providing officers with greater tools to empower themselves with higher levels of social intelligence based on research (Williams, 2012). This will undoubtedly allow them to better interact with the society they serve and protect.

Strategic Planning for Police Departments

At the core of any successful police department is a good and efficient strategic plan. This includes a strategy for how to prevent and solve crime, as well as how to deal with emergency situations. Individual police departments must work together with their unique communities to create a strategic plan appropriate for the needs and demands of society at large. A strong strategic plan empowers individual police departments with the ability to understand the communities they serve and how they can achieve goals set out by leadership. Understanding and evaluating community factors is a major element of a strategic plan, leading to real and practical solutions. "As a result of the strategic planning process," a police department can create "an evolving set of goals and corresponding plans to reach them with the renewed support and cooperation of the community it serves" (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2006).

This highly tailored and individualized strategic plan can benefit a police department enormously. It helps identify the needs of the population it aims to protect, build strategic relationships with community partners, and improve the internal functioning of the overall administration (Swanson, 2012). Such a plan provides a strong foundation for individual officers in the field to react and interact within a variety of situations, empowering them with a sense of experience within the community and general guidance to fall back on in times of need.

There are a number of steps involved in creating a policing plan. Essentially, three phases are outlined by the research: "1) a survey of citizen satisfaction with police services, 2) an internal agency survey of police officer satisfaction, and 3) a one-day planning session attended by police officers and community leaders" (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2006). Community and academic research both help improve the nature of strategic plans and the execution of their various elements. Gathering research from both the community and from inside the department itself can help identify major problems and guide leadership toward potential solutions based on the unique context of each particular situation. However, these solutions must be tailored to the unique community environment in both design and strategy for execution.

Cultural and Language Barriers in Policing

The United States is a vast melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities (Shusta, 2005). Police officers frequently encounter people from different cultural backgrounds on a daily basis, especially in more populated urban areas. Two issues in particular directly affect interactions between law enforcement and citizens from other cultures: language barriers and differences in culturally influenced behavior. Both can seriously impede communication between a police officer and a citizen from a different cultural background.

Language barriers represent a significant problem within law enforcement in diverse communities, particularly in urban areas that attract people from many cultures and ethnicities. Cultural and language barriers often strain relations between police officers and the people who come to them for help. For example, research shows that many battered women from different cultures hesitate to contact law enforcement due to language barriers and a fear of immediate deportation. Although many government agencies provide literature in a variety of languages, many police officers in the field are not fluent in languages beyond English and, secondarily, Spanish. Yet in cities such as Los Angeles or New York, thousands of citizens speak a wide variety of other languages. When those citizens are in need, they find it incredibly difficult to reach out to law enforcement in the face of such a formidable language barrier.

Additionally, differences in culturally influenced behavior can create problems in how police officers and the citizens they are designated to protect interact with one another. According to the research, "the presence of different cultures can affect the very nature and perception of crime itself" (Shusta, 2005). The way people think about crime is often highly dependent on the cultural and ethnic influences within their society. One culture may view a particular action as a crime, while a completely different culture sees it as perfectly normal or at least something to be condoned. Many cultures may not share the same concepts of law present within American society, and sometimes people may break American laws without truly understanding that they have done so. This can create conflict when a police officer of one cultural background is enforcing a law that is not understood or respected from the perspective of another culture (Swanson, 2012).

Because of such cultural differences in diverse societies like that of the United States, police officers need to immerse themselves in cultural knowledge and education. It is extremely important for officers to learn the values and codes of the particular cultures they encounter in the field in order to better communicate and serve those communities (Swanson, 2012). Officers need to be perceptive and understanding of cultural differences, potentially shaping their decisions based on such cultural understanding.

References

Ashley, S. (2004). Reducing the risks of police pursuit. The Police Policy Studies Council.

Godown, J. (2010). The CompStat process: Four principles for managing crime reduction. Police Chief Magazine.

International Association of Chiefs of Police. (2006). Big ideas for smaller police departments. Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Kennedy, D. M. (1993). The strategic management of police resources. Perspectives on Policing, 14(1993).

Levitt, S. (2012). The police culture: Introduction to police culture. Sage Publications.

Santa, E. (2012). Succession planning for police departments. Police Departments.

Saville, G. (2006). Emotional intelligence and policing. Police Chief.

Shusta, R. M., Levine, D. R., Wong, H. Z., & Harris, P. R. (2005). Impact of cultural diversity on law enforcement. In Multicultural law enforcement: Strategies for peacekeeping in a diverse society (3rd ed., pp. 1–35). Prentice Hall.

Swanson, C. R. (2012). Police administration: Structures, processes, and behavior (8th ed.). Prentice Hall.

Williams, S. (2012). How will social intelligence influence a police officer's interaction with the public by 2020? Command College Futures Study Project.