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.