Jurkanin outlines some of the major issues that have an impact on police recruitments and hiring in different law enforcement settings. He likens police work to sports because it requires officers to be highly dedicated to their duties (24). He argues that for a senior police administrator to earn respect, he needs to think like a coach to boost the confidence of all officers in his team. Some of the important virtues police chiefs must include in their work include sacrifice, perseverance and respect for authority. These virtues also help sports coaches to succeed. During recruitment, police administrators need to understand how they can merge different talents of inexperienced officers. This makes them more motivated to deliver positive results in their duties. He adds that a police chief should inculcate virtues of team spirit in newly recruited officers to make them more united.
Law enforcement officers who adhere to high ethical standards demonstrate their willingness to respect and honor all expectations that are vested upon them by the public. This makes them fair and diligent in the manner they enforce the law to ensure criminal and other illegal acts which threaten peoples’ safety are eliminated. They should not resort to unlawful methods to resolve complex criminal cases (Jurkanin 25). In some instances, law enforcers come up with compelling cases against suspected offenders who get away with serious crimes after they have been charged in court. These shortcomings should not make police officers lose their respect for the law because courts interpret cases brought before them differently. All law enforcement officers need to abide by the law as they perform their duties.
Police officers need to acquire advanced skills to help them deal with different crimes that happen in areas under their jurisdiction effectively. Police officers need to advance their scientific skills to enable them solve complex and mysterious crimes easily. They need to build partnerships with people living in different communities to make them well prepared to deal with various law enforcement challenges that may arise. Many police administrators do not take time to understand the true qualities of effective leadership (Jurkanin 26). However, just like football coaches, they are given very little time to prove their abilities while in office.
Police administrators need to build strong foundations in their institutions to motivate their junior officers to perform their duties more effectively. They need to improve the relationships they have with their subordinates to attain positive outcomes in their organizations.
Works Cited
Jurkanin, Thomas J. “The Police Chief as Coach: Analogies between Sports and Effective Police Leadership.” The Police Chief 79: 24–26. Web.