Policing Needs To Move Forward With Leadership Standards

It is a positive move that the College of Policing has published new leadership standards, but South Yorkshire Police is ahead of the curve on leadership, the Federation has said.

The College’s new leadership standards for police officers, staff and volunteers set out the knowledge, understanding, skills and behaviour expected of effective leaders.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent agreed that there needed to be better leadership guidance for officers, but added that his force was already running its own programmes.

He said: “In our Federation we have been banging on about leadership standards, because we have been concerned about some of the issues that we see locally in terms of discipline and performance culture. And sometimes there are examples out there of very poor leadership.

“But to be fair, our force has already started its own leadership programmes, and they’re really good. We’re not necessarily seeing the effects of them yet, because people are only going through the door and actually having that training now. But South Yorkshire Police is ahead of the curve with it. It’s really important that we keep moving forward with leadership standards.”