Sheriffs' and Police Chiefs' Leadership and Management Decisions in the Local Law Enforcement Budgetary Process: An Exploration

Abstract

While almost all local government administrators frequently interact with municipal police chiefs and county sheriffs, there is a dearth of scholarly literature concerning the decision-making behaviours of these law enforcement executives. This study, as part of a larger project, explores decision-making as it pertains to the annual budgeting process, an important basis for county- or city-wide interaction. The central question of this study is: what is the effect of selection method on a local law enforcement manager's willingness to cooperate with a legislative body during a budget crisis? This exploratory research suggests that the disparate methods by which sheriffs and police chiefs obtain office (election versus appointment) play a role in each executive's decision-making behaviours, albeit in a counterintuitive way: sheriffs are more apt to demonstrate local government leadership through cooperation with the county legislature while police chiefs are more likely to focus their efforts on intradepartmental management.

Case Visibility and the Electoral Connection in State Supreme Courts

“…As trustees, judges may be accountable to the law, to their profession, or to their personal ideological values (though the evidence of this is limited in our investigation). Given the variety of worldviews, priorities, and values government officials hold (Gabris, 1992;LaFrance & Placide, 2010;Streb, 2008), the considerations of trustee-oriented judges may be quite diverse. Future research should consider the role legal factors, professional norms, and personal characteristics might play in state high court decisions.…”