The following is excerpted from “Recruitment & Retention of Gen-Z Law Enforcement Officers” by Police1 columnist Janay Gasparini, Ph.D. and Police 1 Policing Matters podcast host Jim Dudley. The book delves into the dynamics of integrating Generation Z into law enforcement agencies. It includes a thorough examination of the generational characteristics and traits of Gen Z, their upbringing, educational backgrounds and how they operate within the workplace. The book offers actionable solutions for law enforcement leadership in the midst of a recruitment and retention crisis. Order your copy here.
Looking to the Future: Preparing for Gen Z Leadership
In the next decade, Gen Z police officers will be hitting their stride as they move into leadership roles. Looking to the future, foresighted police leaders of today may wonder what that could be like given the challenges they are facing with Gen Z in present times. Framing our thinking in the future makes the call for building effective Gen Z police officers even more critical.
Future Gen Z leaders are anticipated to be more versatile, technical, and reflective of their generational characteristics. Less emphasis is on job/company loyalty, more emphasis on an overall mission for community impact, and more openness about personal struggles while encouraging those under their charge to be the same are some anticipated markers of Gen Z leadership style.
According to insights from U.K-based RADA Business, four Gen Z leadership style hallmarks are: purpose-driven leadership, digital natives and tech fluency, authenticity and inclusivity, and continuous learning and development. How can you use these insights to benefit your agency in today’s world while improving the performance and retention of newer officers heading in this direction?
On the social and cultural front, how will Gen Z officers’ experiences of growing up in the shadow of an economic recession (while gearing up for the potential of another one), navigating a global pandemic, and getting constantly bombarded with information and technology shape their capacity to lead? Deloitte’s 2022 Gen Z and Millenial survey revealed that growing up in their time, Gen Zers have developed a strong sense of justice and equality and the ability to drive collective action, but they have also developed many fears about the future. Are the fears, presumably based on the state of the world as Gen Z comes of age, potentially motivating factors for innovative leadership?
One trend specific to Gen Z police leadership is early onset of stepping into leadership roles. This is a direct result of the recruitment, retention, and retirement crisis which has left manpower at anemic levels. Inexperienced officers are being placed in leadership positions far sooner than previous generations of officers, and in many cases, simply because there is no other option. Two-year officers are becoming field training officers, and officers are achieving special assignments and leadership positions far earlier than their older peers, again, out of necessity. Spoken or unspoken, the “five-year rule” is a popular benchmark for the amount of time many in the field believe is appropriate for officers to achieve before getting special assignments or promotions.
“Police leaders should not think twice about putting leadership books, materials, video clips, etc. in the hands of their new officers.”
We are hopeful that the trend of premature rank is temporary, but for the present time, it is a reality. This signals a need to instill leadership qualities in recruits from the moment they enter academy. Forbes Business Council penned an article addressing Gen Z leadership challenges. Lack of experience and soft skills (particularly on the communication front) create a barrier to assuming the authority and confidence needed to lead others. “To lead effectively, Gen Z needs to master the relational soft skills and confidence that Boomers spent their entire lives building.” The Council suggested emotional self-regulation practices, teambuilding skills, and leadership training programs as the solution for bringing Gen Z up to the level required to be effective in leadership roles.
Police leaders should not think twice about putting leadership books, materials, video clips, etc. in the hands of their new officers. Seeking out free or low-cost training on leadership is also a great step. However, we maintain that the best way to learn effective leadership is by example. Leadership by example starts with academy staff, and then that torch is passed to field training officers and direct supervisors.
In relation to leadership training, the recruits need to be involved in the process to better understand how decisions are made. Again, Hank Prim writes about how we should involve the next generation of police recruits to better prepare them for leadership roles. He describes allowing new officers “to take a look behind the curtain” to see how decisions are made. Agent Prim stresses the need to serve as realistic role models from the beginning of training at the police academy to elicit the desired behavior from the recruit candidate. He stresses the need to continue role modeling throughout the training process, including in field training. The expectation is to train and explain, to give the recruit the ‘why’ behind the ‘how.’ The modeled behavior is expected to have the recruit approach interactions with the public similarly. All too often, decisions are made by law enforcement leaders without explaining the process to line officers.
While early leadership role acquisition by Gen Z officers may raise alarm, for hundreds of agencies, this is a reality. Irrespective of this issue is the plain fact that Gen Z is the future of police leadership. Planting seeds from the beginning of their training and maintaining the expectation of leadership qualities in young officers is another must with a generation that was largely shielded from making decisions and having to step into these roles.
Portrait of the author as a young officer
While on remote posts directing or shutting down traffic for an event, standing in line in full riot gear for hours on end, I and other officers found ourselves uneasy and questioning what would happen next, and when.
Years later, as a 40-year-old Commander at a large-scale anti-war demonstration in San Francisco, I was in charge of some 200 plus officers trailing another 500 or more angry demonstrators, late into the evening. At one point near a large intersection near a park, the crowd stopped and took over the street. As the platoons of officers stood in formation along two flanks, their captain approached me to say that he was “planning to clear the intersection.” I called him aside to understand his logic. He responded that we had sufficient officers to physically move the protesters out of the street, since they caused vehicle traffic to be re-routed.
I countered that traffic was minimally disrupted and that we had yet to advise a dispersal order. A large media contingent was in attendance and any skirmish had the potential to injure demonstrators, police officers and give the media a story for that night and the morning headlines. I gave the order to wait 15 to 20 minutes before we moved to act. The captain, 20 years my senior, with much more experience than I, was unhappy with my decision and spoke loudly and gesticulated with great animation. Nevertheless, he stood down.
I saw the opportunity to address the platoons in attendance to communicate our next steps and intentions. Considering that they just witnessed an argument or indecision over what course of action to take between two leaders at a critical event, some may have felt unease, confusion, and a lack of confidence in leadership. I explained to the dozens of officers in attendance that my primary goal in waiting was to keep them safe. The decision to wait prevented injuries to them and the demonstrators and calmed the situation into a non-event. Other considerations involved logistics of mass arrests, hours of processing and reports, and the likely possibility of no prosecution of the arrested. The media left without a sensational confrontation to report.
Within that time period, the majority cleared the intersection and we moved the others out of the street with minimal resistance. It was years later, however, when I was approached by a few of the officers who were present at the demonstration. They made a point of telling me that it was their first experience with a command officer who took the time to explain a situation that affected them. I appreciated their perspective of the incident and used it as a guiding example of modeling behavior and understanding the need for communicating with the troops to instill confidence and understanding decision making. — Jim Dudley
NEXT: Dive deeper into the challenges and opportunities of recruiting Gen Z officers with expert insights from the Policing Matters podcast. From innovative training methods like VR to strategies for engaging families in the hiring process, this podcast offers actionable tips you can’t afford to overlook. Listen now to take your recruitment game to the next level!
