chief of police/senior police administrator have been established by major urban jurisdictions in both Britain and the United States (Kelly, 1990; Greenwood, 1989). In each instance Britain and the United States, the effect of these training requirements has been instrumental in the conversion of the chief of police/senior police administrator from a primary orientation as a line officer to a primary orientation as a public administrator.
As a minimum, most major urban jurisdictions in the United States require a college degree as a requisite for appointment as chief of police (Leonard and More, 1987). Certainly, there are exceptions to this general rule in the United States. Conversely, however, many of the larger police departments in the United States require master's level college work prior to appointment as chief of police. The requirement for a university education as a requisite for appointment as senior police administrator in Britain was introduced by the Home Office for the departments under their jurisdiction in the 1970s (Bradley, 1986). This requirement has gradually been adopted by other major urban jurisdictions in Britain. As a consequence, many experienced police supervisors in Britain have been blocked from promotion to senior police administrator because of a lack of university education.
Chiefs of police/senior police administrators in both the United States and Britain are expected to possess and be able to effectively use the qualities of both leadership and management. The style of leadership practiced by an individual is, in effect, the managerial behavior of that individual, and the style of leadership can have profound effects on the performance of the organization.
In the first half of the twentieth century, in both Britain and the United States, the authoritarian, task oriented manager was the prototype police leader. Subordinates in a police organizations were told what to do and how to do...