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Improving police morale and productivity through balanced leadership

Whether in big cities or rural towns, police leadership across North America face significant challenges. Recruitment and retention are getting tougher by the day as our profession continues to try and recover from the anti-police narrative that has festered for years. Finding ways for management to maintain the staff they have while keeping them motivated and disciplined is no easy task. We require them to work too much and do more with less while trying to keep them safe during their tours of duty. Compound that problem with the psychological strain they’re under from exhaustion and rotating shifts, vicarious trauma from routine exposure to suffering, the risk of injury or politically motivated attempts to incarcerate them for mistakes, and lack of appreciation for the work they do, it’s clear that leaders have their work cut out for them like never before.

This work must involve developing and maintaining our agencies so that we have motivated public servants who enforce the rule of law and follow it themselves. We need cops who feel supported by their management and communities but know and expect to answer for their mistakes. When corrective action is meted out, they need to be confident that the process takes the totality of the circumstances into full consideration and is working off a progressive discipline model that includes precursors like counselling when applicable. They should expect zero tolerance for certain behaviours but that most errors are manageable if responsibility is taken. Being keenly aware that to err is human, management should recognize that applications of compassion may be appropriate in specific situations, with the goal of helping officers learn from their mistakes and continue to be productive and motivated public servant guardians.

As the “Motivation/Discipline” graph shows, we should be striving for that IDEAL, the sweet spot, so to speak, of “Inspired and Accountable.” When we achieve this, we can expect high productivity from our police officers and staff. Good morale and strong esprit de corps can also be expected from them. Happy cops can translate into healthy cops—as internal stressors should be minimal—so there would be a significant officer wellness benefit. Once there, leadership must be vigilant to maintain this ideal, as it can easily slide in either direction. It should be part and parcel of the culture and incorporated into the mission statement and institutional values.

We need cops who feel supported by their management and communities but know and expect to answer for their mistakes.

When developing future leadership, its appreciation should be emphasized to promotional candidates to help with continuity. A new leader who doesn’t appreciate this vision could quickly unravel that “sweet spot” and turn it sour. They could then push it towards a “Too Rigid/Strict” end, where an anti-management attitude among the rank and file can thrive. That attitude could result in grievances being filed and unnecessary time wasted battling it out in labour hearings. Fighting these grievances will also take a toll on the budget, involving taxpayer money. Being on this right side of the spectrum could result in a demoralized police force who will feel like any mistake results in an anvil dropping on their head, like in an old Looney Tunes cartoon. Low productivity can be expected as officers will be less inclined to take risks for fear of making a mistake that will result in excessive punishment. Being in this kind of environment will also cause a tremendous amount of stress for the officers— stress that will not go away once they take off the uniform. It will follow them home and affect their personal life.

If we move too far to the left side and become “Too Lenient/Easy,” we will have lazy and unmotivated police officers and staff. Communities will get a small return on their tax investment, as many of these officers may have low productivity and no desire to go above and beyond. Many officers may not enforce the law significantly, and there will be fewer safe neighbourhoods and streets. Citizens will not have the sense of security that they deserve. However, this is minor compared to the fear of undisciplined police officers who will feel they are above the rules and laws. These are the environments where scandals can take root, and civil rights are violated grossly. When this happens, look out. What could have been checked early has now developed into a tsunami that could take years to fix.

Motivation and discipline are critical components interwoven within the fabric of a police organization. Finding a seamless and balanced blend of them is vital. This graph can be a conceptual guide for leadership, providing the vision and encouragement to create “Inspired and Accountable” public servants. When they do, they will have found the “sweet spot,” which will be a leadership magnum opus. This is what the server and the served deserve, achievable with desire and focus.

Tom Wetzel is currently Chief Of Police of the University Circle Police Department in Ohio and was formerly the chief of police in Richmond Heights and a SWAT commander. He is also a certified law enforcement executive, adjunct professor in community policing, and internationally published author on police topics.