The relevance of spirituality in policing: a dual analysis

Smith, Jonathan; Charles, Ginger

doi:10.1350/ijps.2010.00.0.179

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…This builds on and extends earlier studies which suggest that new approaches to police leadership are required to address the demands of modern policing (Smith and Charles, 2010;Ichiho and Anderson, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

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Purposeful leadership for the future police service

Yarlagadda

Bailey

Zheltoukhova

et al. 2017

IJES

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Purposeful leadership for the future police service 2 Abstract Purpose -This paper examines the prevalence of purposeful and ethical leadership in a UK county police force -referred to by the pseudonym PoliceOrg. It also evaluates the extent to which officers feel their values fit with those of the organisation, and the outcomes achieved by purposeful and ethical leaders.Design/methodology/approach -A questionnaire survey, interviews and focus groups were conducted at PoliceOrg. Findings are compared with those from a public sector case study and with a representative sample of the UK working population.Findings -Purposeful leaders at PoliceOrg have a positive impact on important outcomes for their direct reports, and provide a sense of direction and guidance to those who do not feel a strong fit between their values and those of their organisation. Research limitations/implication -The study focuses on a new construct (purposeful leadership) that has not previously been explored in the academic literature. Consequently, our findings cannot be directly compared with those of other studies. The survey focused on the views of police sergeants and constables, and only one police force participated as a case study; hence, the generalisability of the findings is limited.Practical implication -Police organisations should nurture and sustain workplace environments where leaders can translate their personal moral code and ethical values into their role behaviours to address the policing challenges of the future.Originality/value -This study elucidates the concept of purposeful leadership in the context of a police force.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

“…Researchers have argued that more ethical approaches to leadership in the police are associated with better outcomes for officers such as improved wellbeing (Caldwell and Anderson, 2017;Smith and Charles, 2010). This was reflected in the findings of this study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Purposeful leadership for the future police service

Yarlagadda

Bailey

Zheltoukhova

et al. 2017

IJES

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“…All these challenges can take their toll on an officer: on their health, fitness and well-being and on their view of people and of the world (Bebbington, 2010a). Smith and Charles (2010) argue that if we take a look at the deeper issues related to the above challenges -the nature of policing and its struggle for good; not being recognised and valued as whole people; not being treated as a valuable part of a community; the reality of facing death and human destructiveness on a daily basis -we see that at a fundamental level, these challenges have a spiritual component to them. As identified by Smith and Malcolm (2010), and as reproduced in Figure 1, whilst this spiritual component is an important part to leadership and to policing, and vital for fitness and well being, it is an often unrecognised and unaddressed aspect of police work.…”

Section: Ensuring Leadership Fitnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ensuring leadership fitness: lessons from policing

Smith

2011

International Journal of Leadership in Public Services

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Policing is an enormously challenging occupation. Despite the difficulties, however, the vast majority of police officers are extremely resilient and demonstrate high levels of self-control, compassion, professionalism and love for the work they have chosen to do. Their dedication to service is inspiring. These officers appear to have the ability to re-direct their emotionally charged frustrations and use the experiences to create new meaning and compassion. This paper seeks to look at what leaders in all public-sector organisations can learn from these resilient officers, and to look at what can be done to ensure these leaders are fully fit for the role they have to perform in these challenging times of austerity and cutback. Design/methodology/approach -Drawing on extensive research in this area, this paper provides the author's view on lessons from policing that can be applied across the public sector. Findings -The author argues that when the deeper issues are considered, many of the challenges in policing and in leadership are fundamentally of a spiritual nature, and it is vital to include consideration of the spiritual dimension in an holistic approach to leadership. Originality/value -There is a need to develop new leadership approaches in the public sector that can cope with the pressure of rapid change on individuals and within organisations. There is much that can be learned from current approaches in policing and, when considered, many of the challenges are fundamentally of a spiritual nature and so it is vital to include consideration of the spiritual dimension when developing leadership fitness.

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“…Within the police subculture, law enforcement and crime fighting is an important aspect (Paoline, 2003;Paoline and Terrill, 2005). The work is exacting and requires high levels of self-preparedness and commitment among its members (Feemster, 2009a(Feemster, , 2009b, and hence there is an acute need to combat trauma, stress and build resilience (Charles, 2009;Gilmartin, 2002;Smith and Charles, 2010). Globally, police officers essentially join the profession with an expectation that they will experience high-risk/challenging events through the course of their employment (e.g., Burke and Shakespeare-Finch, 2011;Haarr, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To address this, the self-preparedness of police officers is critical, and globally recognised, and while there are several means, there are discussions on how spirituality and spiritual training can benefit police officers. Essentially, spirituality is seen as crucial for building resilience (Burke and Shakespeare-Finch, 2011; Hesketh et al, 2014; Smith and Charles, 2010) and for promoting a general sense of well-being and optimism (Charles et al, 2014; McDonald, 2015; Padhy et al, 2015) among police officers. While country-specific research on spirituality and police is an emerging area in the field of positive criminology (McFadyen and Prideaux, 2014), there is limited experimental and evidence-based research on what works universally, despite cultural differences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dealing with crime, criminals and the criminal justice system through spirituality

Pandya

2016

The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles

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Based on a post-test experimental RCT study of 1,698 police officers across 15 countries, the objective is to study the influence of spirituality on their views on crime, criminals and the justice system, and its influence on perceived job stress and resilience building. Results of the structural equation models and path analysis showed that spiritual programmes influenced the treatment group police officers’ views on crime and the system and enabled building resilience. Variations were observed by country, religion, job profile and service duration. Findings build a case for spiritual training of the police officers interfacing with the domain of criminology.

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The relevance of spirituality in policing: a dual analysis

Cited by 5 publications

References 11 publications

Purposeful leadership for the future police service

Purposeful leadership for the future police service

Ensuring leadership fitness: lessons from policing

Dealing with crime, criminals and the criminal justice system through spirituality

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