Engaging in Law Enforcement and Public Safety Institutional Assessment and Change

The willingness of law enforcement to adapt and change in the 21st is essential for law

enforcement agencies to thrive in today’s society. Everyday law enforcement officers face new

types of crimes especially when it comes to technology related crimes. During this program, I

have taken courses in community engagement and organizational leadership. During these

courses, I learned the skills and techniques in engaging in law enforcement and public safety

institutional assessment and change.

In LEPS 520, Community Engagement, I learned different ways that agencies and

departments communicate with the public and those whom they serve. The Merced Police

Department has many different ways that they communicate with members of the public. The

Citizens Police Academy, Cadet Program, Coffee with a Cop, and other various community

outreach programs are how the police department shows the public the more human side of

police officers. During these encounters, the citizens are able to meet and talk to the officers

firsthand and get to know them on a personal level. Getting to know officers on a personal level

helps the public trust the police department more and builds rapport between the community

and the department. The Presidents Task Force stated, “Trust between law Enforcement

agencies and the people they protect and serve is essential in a democracy (President’s Task

Force).”

In LEPS 540, Organizational leadership, I learned about the different types of leadership

that can be found within a department. Due to the constantly changing aspect of law

enforcement leaders need to also be able to adapt along with its officers and the organization

for the department to successfully transition. Especially in today’s climate, with all of the

protests to defund the police, leadership needs to remain strong in law enforcement. This is
Engaging in Law Enforcement and Public Safety Institutional Assessment and Change

why I chose two assignments from this course. Change needs to happen as an organization one

step at a time, and won’t just happen overnight. Leaders who are also willing to adapt are more

likely to have officers who are willing to change and adapt. Within this course, I learned about

adaptive leadership which could be described as the department changing certain aspects of

itself to be more transparent to the community and compromise with the community on

certain things they would like to see.

The second assignment I chose was in regards to transactional, transformational and

strategic leadership. This assignment gave me the opportunity to learn about transformational

leadership as it is an “attempt to move groups and organizations to change, to transform, and

also very high levels of productivity and performance (Riggio, 2013).” Especially in today’s

climate, with most of the general public wanting to defund and viewing officers in negative light

it is very likely that officers because negative and productivity decreases. A good leader will

figure out a way to keep their officers moral up especially during these difficult times. Although

officers are facing a difficult time right now, they need to still be able to serve the community

with the best police response as they can. There is a constant pendulum swinging with the

atmosphere of law enforcement and hopefully this pendulum will swing back towards the side

of law enforcement support.

Being able to engage and build rapport with those whom we serve is necessary in the

career of law enforcement. The climate of law enforcement is constantly changing and police

need to be able to adapt successfully to serve those whom we protect.