An evaluation of the promotional processes in a large Texas metropolitan police department

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine a police promotional process, in order to determine factors important for a sergeant to be promoted to lieutenant. To do this, written scores, assessment scores, and other demographic variables are used, thus providing a unique look into what it truly takes to promote to an important managerial rank in this large Texas metropolitan police department (LTMPD). Design/methodology/approach -This is an exploratory study utilizing data collected from departmental databases. The original data set was accessed through public information laws, and compiled by the lead author, a 21-year police veteran and participant in this promotional process. Findings -Significant findings were both expected and unexpected. Of no surprise were the findings that an officer's written score and assessment score significantly affected the likelihood of promotion. Unexpected were past behavior patterns, age, and number of times tested significantly affected both assessment center performance score and promotion. Originality/value -This paper examines the promotional process within an LTMPD. It illustrates how promotions are made in a department that relies heavily on assessment center outcomes to decide who is promoted. Up to now, police promotional processes have received little attention. This current research is an exploratory analysis which seeks to fill the gap by examining the process by which police lieutenants are chosen.

Leadership emergence: An integrative review.

“…Under the tenets of role congruity theory and other theories related to stereotypes such as expectancy violation theory (Burgoon, 1978; Burgoon & Jones, 1976) and the stereotype-content model (Fiske et al, 2002)—one would expect a leadership emergence disadvantage for members of racial minority groups. This finding has only been partially supported when studying formal leader emergence, as some studies show that racial minorities are less likely to emerge as leaders (e.g., Barling & Weatherhead, 2016), whereas other studies indicate that race does not serve as a significant predictor (e.g., Bishopp, 2013). Despite initial evidence related to formal leader emergence, this question has received inconclusive evidence in the context of informal leadership (e.g., Charlier et al, 2016; Kwok et al, 2018; Mitchell & Coyle, 2019), making it difficult for a conclusion related to this question to be validly drawn at this time.…”

“…In addition, the leadership emergence literature has unfolded across seven decades with research appearing in academic journals across multiple disciplines including (but not limited to): communication (Jiang et al, 2015), criminal justice (Bishopp, 2013), economics (Grunau & Pecoraro, 2017), education (Leeming, 2019), healthcare (Asiamah & Mensah, 2019), management (Hu et al, 2019), and psychology (Schaumberg & Flynn, 2012). Although it is clear that leader emergence research is multidisciplinary in nature, it is far from interdisciplinary—with many research endeavors published in management and applied psychology outlets ignoring highly relevant studies published in other disciplines.…”

Promoting Women Police Officers: Does Exam Format Matter?

“…Most studies on police promotions have examined the effectiveness of the assessment center, a literature that Bishopp (2013) described as in disagreement over its ability to pick good leaders. While some studies have found the assessment center to be more related to job performance than written tests (Ross, 1980), others show that characteristics of the raters, rather than ratees, can be more influential for promotional decisions (Feltham, 1988).…”

“…Its structures reproduce the status quo by neutralizing the effects of diversity, reinforcing inequalities, and fostering an environment that is less positive for (and sometimes hostile to) women (Dodge et al, 2011; Rabe-Hemp, 2008b; Rief & Clinkinbeard, 2020; Todak et al, 2022). The exclusion of women in higher ranks of law enforcement is especially problematic given the positive impact of women leaders (Beaton et al, online first) and the need for more effective leadership in policing more broadly (Bishopp, 2013).…”

From output to outcome measures in the public sector: a structured literature review

“…Others derived from mixed projects involving different public services (Aslam and Yilmaz, 2011;Mostafa et al, 2015;Opstrup and Villadsen, 2015). Additionally, several papers focus on police and safety services (Bishopp, 2013). From the services listed as "other", we highlight E-government (Currie et al, 2011;Morgeson III et al, 2011), community mediation (Gazley et al, 2010), food policy (Siddiki et al, 2015) and spatial development (Burch et al, 2009).…”