The Greatest Sin of Law Enforcement

By: Andrew A. DeMuth Jr.

Law enforcement professionals deserve nothing less than the most exceptional leadership possible. By virtue of this noble profession, they are modern-day knights and are entitled to work for spectacular leaders.

So why do we continue to fail them?

Year after year, this industry promotes thousands of line officers (police officers, corrections officers, troopers, deputies, special agents, etc.) into supervisory roles. Most often in the rank of sergeant or corporal, this group truly serves as the tip of the spear. They lead teams into the most dangerous and challenging situations one can imagine.

Think about it: horrific plane crashes, school shootings, and natural disasters. Violent domestic disputes, serious motor vehicle wrecks, and civil disturbances. And, of course, the smaller yet just-as-dangerous calls law enforcement responds to every day.

Front-line supervisors must also manage strong personalities, keep watchful for subordinates in crisis, counsel their people in the aftermath of handling tragedy and turmoil, inspire performance from their team, ensure proper behavior and conduct, and serve as competent ambassadors of the organization to their people.

It really is an incredible job, and to some—including this writer—it is the most challenging of all jobs in law enforcement.

So why, then, in state after state and training after training, do law enforcement professionals report that their agencies provide little to no training for new front-line supervisors? We have posed this question in every leadership class we have given since 2000. From the answers, agencies can be broken down into three groups.

The first group gets it right. They have a comprehensive training program designed to prepare their people for the supervisor role. This group is rare, though. In a class of 30-40 attendees, there might be one that falls into this group.

The second group includes agencies that have something but not nearly enough. Deputies from one agency reported that their agency’s only requirement was that their people attend at least one full-day leadership class from a commercial training provider. Something, but not enough.

The last group is the majority. These agencies require nothing and provide nothing in the way of leadership or supervisory training. Newly hired supervisors are just expected to know how to manage all the craziness that comes from calls for service and all the challenges that come from leading people. Most will send their people to some type of training as it becomes available at a later date, but this can take months and even longer (In one of our classes, we had a nine-year sergeant, and it was his first-ever leadership class). 80% of the agencies fall into this group.

Think about that: front-line supervisors lead heavily armed teams into confrontational situations every day, and most are given little to no training to carry out this role.

This is the biggest failure in law enforcement today, and it must be fixed. Two of the most common bases for lawsuits against law enforcement are failure to train and failure to supervise. Knowing this, we are fine with putting our people in supervisory positions and not training them. How did this get to be okay?

For the 2024 ILEETA Conference, we will be presenting the following:

Leadership Factory! Launching a Leadership Development Program

In this presentation, attendees will receive a digital ready-to-go leadership development and training program for new supervisors they can take back to their agencies. It is a fully editable three-phase plan that can be personalized to agency branding and customized to the specific needs of the organization.

Phase I addresses the offer and acceptance of the position. It begins with a contract that can be used for new supervisors. Rather than serve as a legally enforceable document, it is meant to make clear what will be expected from them in the new role. It is also meant to convey the seriousness and responsibility of becoming a formal law enforcement leader.

Phase II consists of a proper orientation for the position. This includes sit-downs with several levels of the chain of command for advice and expectations. It also includes being issued the equipment, resources, and access needed by front-line supervisors.

Phase III is the equivalent of an FTO program but for sergeants and corporals. It comes complete with sections on administrative training, operational training, and leadership training. Again, it can and should be customized to agency needs.

The actual ILEETA presentation will take students through the current dynamic taking place throughout the country and make the case as to why no one should ever be put in a supervisory position without the proper training.

We’ll then go through our training program and detail how agencies can have a comprehensive plan that sets new supervisors up for success and fulfills the organization’s obligation to its citizens. A significant aspect of this program is that it is just as relevant and applicable to smaller agencies as it is to larger ones.

The handouts will be distributed digitally, as it would be too much paper for traveling. Both PDF and editable Microsoft Word documents will be available for download or via email. (If you are reading this after the conference and would like the handouts, just email us at info@LeadingBlue.com.

The primary objectives of the program are to set our new supervisors up to succeed and protect our organizations from liability.

But there was one more goal in presenting this training. We wanted to give attendees (at least those from agencies that do not have a leadership development program in place for new supervisors) something they could bring back that would help justify attending this year’s ILEETA Conference and better their chances of attending next year. As ILEETA trainers, we should all be mindful of this. We must give attendees actionable takeaways.

So, join us at ILEETA Week (March 18-23) on Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. in Midway 9 or on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. in Midway 7.

-Andrew A. DeMuth Jr. (This article previously appeared in the ILEETA Journal.)

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Andrew A. DeMuth Jr. is the founder of Leading Blue, a firm that provides leadership training for law enforcement and the private sector. He served 32 years in law enforcement with four different agencies in a variety of leadership roles. During his career, he served as an investigation’s commander, range master, agency training officer, press information officer, and director of the youth police academy program. He spent the last nine years of his law enforcement career managing CODIS, the New Jersey DNA program overseeing the processing, compliance, and training of more than 500 participating law enforcement agencies and correctional facilities. Today he serves as an adjunct professor for two institutions and speaks on leadership and training topics throughout the country.