Taking the Reigns: Examining Police Leader Succession in British Columbia

• In Event: Future Directions in Canadian Policing

Abstract

Police leadership is an integral, yet under-studied component of policing and of the reform of police practice. Among the many challenges surrounding leadership is succession: the replacement of one police leader by another. Little is known about how changes in police leadership affect the policies and practices of a police organization. Given the integral role of police leadership, it is both surprising and concerning that it remains an under-studied component of policing and the reform of police practice. In light of this dearth of research on the topic of leadership succession in policing, the purpose of this paper was to examine the topic of leadership succession from a broader perspective and to then use this information to develop a research framework for a study of police leadership succession. Additionally, interviews were conducted with police leaders in British Columbia to identify the key challenges involved in leadership succession, as well as to determine what police services are doing to ensure smooth leadership transitions.

Author

• Joshua Murphy, Simon Fraser University