NCJ Number
214314
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 73 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2006 Pages: 16-22
Date Published
April 2006
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article describes the efforts of the Virginia Beach Police Department (Virginia) in developing and sustaining a culture of integrity in the organization.
Abstract
The senior leaders of the Virginia Beach Police Department (VBPD) recognized that their priorities and actions must be the centerpiece for developing and sustaining an organizational culture of integrity. In assuming this leadership responsibility, they launched three major initiatives: leadership and management development, an internal organizational focus, and an external organizational focus. The leadership and management development initiative is a comprehensive system that begins with recruit and inservice training and continues with academic and field training for new sergeants. A new academic course on leadership is required of all officers in supervisory positions. A management skills course complements the leadership course. The focus on leadership development thus extends from the training of recruits to courses for the police chief. The internal organizational focus involved an assessment of the organizational climate with a valid and reliable survey instrument that identified areas for improvement. Such an assessment will continue to be conducted every 2 years. The external focus involved a series of presentations to department leaders by nationally recognized leadership and management experts. The focus of these presentations was on tapping into community expectations for departmental priorities and officer conduct. VBPD leaders organized a community summit that brought together community leaders for the purpose of discussing expectations related to the cultivation of a culture of integrity in the VBPD's interaction with and service to the community. All of these initiatives have been implemented and will continue regularly as a means of sustaining a departmental climate of integrity. 3 references