Chapter 2: Changing Historical and Emerging Societal Contexts and Its Impact on Police Leadership

In the day-to-day routine of police work, the historical trends and larger societal structures and contexts shaping policing can be overlooked. In this chapter, we examine the historical and emerging contexts impacting police leadership. In doing so, we examine how terminologies used to describe the office have changed. We use exemplars of key societal events to trace the evolution of police through time to illustrate the impact of these historical events on policing. This includes discussions of the changing nature of violence, the role of leaders' vision in professionalizing and reforming the police, and leaders navigating the complexity of contemporary societies and emerging trends. We argue that police leaders who are well-educated in historical and emerging societal contexts are in the best position to lead their organizations through the turbulent nature of contemporary times.