How Police Supervisory Styles Influence Patrol Officer Behavior

Running head: INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
Investigative Unit
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1INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
The behavior of the team members of a particular team depends to a large extent on
the style of supervision adopted by the supervisor or the leader of that team. In this regard, it
needs to be said that the role of leader or supervision becomes an important one since they
are responsible not only for their individual behavior or performance but also that of their
subordinates or team members as well (Ashcroft, Daniels & Hart, 2003). This essay will
discuss about the role of supervision style on the behavior or performance of the subordinates
in the particular context of the article “How Police Supervisory Styles Influence Patrol
Officer Behavior”.
The article under discussion here clearly indicates that there are seven kinds of
supervision styles which are being adopted by the police supervisor for the performance of
their job roles (Ashcroft, Daniels & Hart, 2003). However, the article after an analysis of the
seven styles states that the active style of supervision since it has a direct impact not only on
the subordinate police officers but at the same time on the supervisors as well. It is pertinent
to note that the performance of these officers are directly related to the supervision styles
adopted by the supervisors and if these individuals opt for the direct style then it fosters an
atmosphere of transparency as well as openness among the subordinates. More importantly,
this encourages the individuals to adopt the kind of behavior which will enable them to solve
the various problems in a much more effective manner (Ashcroft, Daniels & Hart, 2003). In
addition to this, the article at the same time stresses that the use of this style of supervision is
likely to help the patrolmen to “implement community policing goals” (Ashcroft, Daniels &
Hart, 2003).
The notion of community policing has gained special prominence within the cannon
of the contemporary world on the score of the increasing number of crimes within the various
communities of the world. More importantly, it is seen that this machinery is directly affected
by the style of supervision adopted by the managers. For example, the article “How Police