Enduring, Surviving, and Thriving as a Law Enforcement Executive.

Enduring, Surviving, and Thriving as a Law Enforcement Executive edited by Thomas J. Jurkanin, Larry T Hoover, Jerry L. Dowling, and Janice Ahmad, Charles C. Thomas Publisher Springfield, Illinois, 2001.

Enduring, Surviving, and Thriving as a Law Enforcement Executive shares extensive insights, perspectives, suggestions, warnings, concepts, and ideas that codify over 400 years of wisdom of the day-to-day experiences related to the law enforcement profession. The book contains contributions from 20 experienced law enforcement executives edited by four other veterans of the profession.

It represents an excellent work for the newly appointed, as well as experienced, chief of police, sheriff:, law enforcement manager, or supervisor. The authors greatly emphasize law enforcement executives' function in their communities, their interfacing with political institutions, and their roles in law enforcement and general public administration.

Due to the extensive experience of the authors, they ably identify several compelling points. These include executive management rights in collective bargaining, major observations for good employee relations, and five political statesmanship blueprints. The authors also offer several law enforcement executive mission and strategy assessments, as well as points on community-oriented policing, organizational values, and the management of important components of legal liabilities and technology interface and use supported by critical incident planning and management application.

The book contains a list of 10 commandments that pertain to the personal and professional conduct of executives along with a number of ways to minimize personal civil liability, including those areas of prime potential for lawsuits. It also provides a list of 10 characteristics for cultivating quality principles in policing and identifies their strengths and weaknesses. A 5-day training course curriculum for newly appointed law enforcement executives or experienced administrators and their managers and supervisors constitutes a compelling contribution that the book makes to the law enforcement community.

The final chapter entails an outline on media relations to assist in maintaining the success of law enforcement executives, managers, and supervisors. In addition, the chapter includes monitoring ideas to measure the public's attitude toward an agency's operations and implemented policies and identifies several critical priorities of an effective law enforcement executive.

Enduring, Surviving, and Thriving as a Law Enforcement Executive will appeal to law enforcement executives at all levels, local government officials, state and local district attorneys, and planning and financial administrators. It also would interest law enforcement executive development schools, national police institutes, and initial and in-service executive training programs. Overall, the book is a critical and helpful compilation of the concepts and ideas used and being tried by some of the best executives in the law enforcement profession.