Leading with Political Awareness

Abstract

A generally overlooked element that increasingly relates to the world of policing is that of the political dimensions that policing and police work intersect with. At one level, it could be argued that managing the dynamics around such intersections might solely be the preserve of police officers working at the senior level. We will, however, argue in this chapter that many of the skills and considerations relating to political awareness in policing are, in fact, transferable. That is to say, that such knowledge (or certainly some elements of it) will be applicable to numerous scenarios that affect police officers, particularly those which involve partnership between different groups and agencies with a variety of agendas and priorities.