NCJ Number
158151
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 62 Issue: 10 Dated: (October 1995) Pages: 96-98,100- 104,106
Date Published
1995
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Police administrators of the future must recognize the need for their agencies to manage change, become more community-oriented and problem-oriented, and understand and use futures research.
Abstract
To prepare for the future, police administrators must address several issues: (1) whether decreasing fiscal resources combined with continuing demands for service excellence will require changes in economic and managerial philosophies; (2) whether police managers will be forced to seek new revenue sources, ways to stretch police services with fewer resources, and new ways to involve a diverse and aging population in local government decisionmaking; and (3) whether it will become increasingly important to retain experienced personnel and attract new personnel who are both specialists and generalists. Police administrators must also recognize and address several trends: advances in information technologies, increasing cultural diversity, challenges in recruiting and continuing to train personnel, and issues related to economic development. They must use a proactive leadership style to have an effective long-range forecasting and planning system. An effective leader must also create a vision of the agency's future in a way that will make the pain of changing worth the effort. For this to occur, the vision must establish purpose for the organization and be inspirational.