Chapter 6: Transforming Police Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence

In this chapter, we introduce and explain Emotional Intelligence (EQ) as a set of competencies that can make police officers more effective. We describe an educational program that helped leaders across disciplines and organizations develop emotional intelligence. We share how a local police department decided to send its leaders to the program and created an emotionally intelligent service. This chapter ends with a case study describing a specific incident demonstrating the impact of EQ on police officers' ability to work with citizens peacefully and effectively in a stressful situation. We examine the existing research on emotional intelligence in police work and ways to implement an emotional intelligence development program for police officers.