Police Leadership

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxix

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2. Thinking Critically About Police Leadership

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Ethical Leadership in Policing: Towards a New Evidence-Based, Ethical Professionalism?

      • Peter Neyroud

      Pages 3-22

   3. Police Culture and Police Leadership

      • Tom Cockcroft

      Pages 23-45

   4. The Art of ‘Flexing’: Translating a New Vision of Police Leadership from the Top

      • Pauline Ramshaw, Mark Simpson

      Pages 47-69

   5. Police Leadership and the Authority of Rank: A Call for a Critical Perspective

      • Claire Davis

      Pages 71-95

3. The Changing Face of Police Leadership: New Directions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 97-97

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   2. In Search of Diversity: An Embodied Account of Police Leadership

      • Marisa Silvestri

      Pages 99-120

   3. Leadership, Volunteering and the Special Constabulary

      • Pauline Ramshaw

      Pages 121-144

   4. Changes to Police Leadership: The Legitimisation and the Challenges of Direct Entry

      • Samantha Scott, Emma Williams

      Pages 145-170

4. Looking Beyond England and Wales

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 171-171

      PDF

   2. Contested Spaces: The Politics of Strategic Police Leadership in Scotland

      • Kath Murray, Ali Malik

      Pages 173-191

   3. Leading in Liminal Space: The Challenge of Policing in Northern Ireland

      • Joanne Murphy

      Pages 193-208

   4. Between Traditionalism and Modernisation: Can Reform in the Hellenic Police Be Led from Within?

      • Georgios Papanicolaou

      Pages 209-230

   5. Police Leadership in the United States

      • Joseph Schafer

      Pages 231-254

   6. Connected Policing: The Importance of Social Capital and Boundary Spanning in Australian Police Leadership

      • Victoria Herrington, Deborah Blackman, Jacinta Carroll, Christine Owen

      Pages 255-275

5. Postscript: Former Chief Constable Sara Thornton

   • Dame Sara Thornton

   Pages 277-281

6. Back Matter

   Pages 283-287

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This book draws upon a range of theoretical and empirical research to explore contemporary debates about police leadership. Focusing upon leadership styles, ethics, integrity and professionalism, workforce diversity, legitimacy and accountability, it reviews the changing context and nature of leadership over time and explores the gains, losses, tensions and challenges that different leadership models bring to policing. Leadership is present at various levels within the police service and this collection reflects upon appropriate leadership qualities and requirements for different roles and at different ranks. The book also considers the difference between leadership and management in an attempt to capture fuller debates within police leadership. Part one surmises the contextual backdrop to current thinking and the primary challenges facing leadership in the police service. Part two highlights the changing face of leadership through an exploration of the call for greater diversity within the ranks of police leadership, and the final section examines police leadership beyond England and Wales. Through this, Police Leadership explores how the challenges facing police leadership in England and Wales share similarities with those in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Greece, North America, and Australia in the face of the pressures of political and economic uncertainty.

• policing
• ethics
• police culture
• procedural justice
• lawlessness
• diversity
• volunteer
• police management
• women and leadership
• ethnicity, class, gender and crime

“At a time of profound change in policing, not least in its higher echelons, we need a clear sense of what leadership in policing consists and why it matters. This volume brings together many of the leading scholars, reporting up-to-date research, in order to consider the current position and likely futures confronting police managers. From evidence to ethics and diversity to direct entry,  both in Europe and beyond, the challenges are immense, and Leadership in Policing offers a thorough examination of the key questions facing the police service in the early twenty first century” (Professor Tim Newburn, London School of Economics, UK)

“This edited collection draws on a range of theoretical and empirical research to explore the changing face of police leadership in the UK and beyond. It reviews contemporary debates about police leadership and its challenges from the perspectives of scholars and practitioners. A much needed and timely contribution to the literature” (Professor Jenny Fleming, University of Southampton, UK)

• Department of Criminology, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

  Pauline Ramshaw

• School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

  Marisa Silvestri

• Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UK

  Mark Simpson

Pauline Ramshaw is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Northumbria University, UK. She has researched and published on a range of police related topics including community policing, special constable volunteers, women and policing, and police reform, modernisation and professionalization agendas.

Marisa Silvestri  is Reader in Criminology at the University of Kent, UK. Her research explores the gendered dimensions of policing and police leadership. With a focus on critical diversities, her work develops more complex readings of police organisational culture.  She is an executive committee member of the British Society of Criminology and is  chair of its Women, Crime and Criminal Justice Network.


Mark Simpson is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) at Teesside University, UK. He has written and researched on a broad range of criminological issues including drug use, youth crime, policing and criminal justice interventions. He is a Fellow of the RSA.

Policies and ethics