Respond to peer post:

At least 175 words (including at least 1 citation each) to 2 classmate’s thread.

Responding to a classmate’s post requires both the addition of new ideas and analysis. A particular point made by the classmate must be addressed and built upon by your analysis in order to move the conversation forward. Thus, the response post is a rigorous assignment that requires you to build upon initial posts to develop deeper and more thorough discussion of the ideas introduced in the initial posts. As such, reply posts that merely affirm, restate or unprofessionally quarrel with the previous post(s) and fail to make a valuable, substantive contribution to the discussion will receive appropriate point deductions.

For your replies, respond to students who addressed a question other than the one you chose, and then give either 2 weaknesses with their post or 2 additional supporting points.

Peer Response 1:

More than likely, if ten different people were asked, ‘what is your definition of leadership’? You would receive ten different answers. Researchers Vito et al. (2020) went into detail on what they thought ‘leadership’ meant to them within an organization, “In this text, we define management as a continuing process that includes all activities focusing on the identification, improvement, and attainment of objectives by the application of organizational resources. Management is also a behavioral relationship between managers and their employees” (p. 3). I believe demonstrating leadership or being a leader, in an organization, is taking the initiative to embody the core values, beliefs, and ethics of the institution. For the the betterment of those who work alongside you, and more importantly for those who are being provided the service. To further, Vito et al’s. (2020) discussion on leadership with an organization, specifically a criminal justice organization, they revealed that,”This definition is dynamic, and based on the fundamental concept, positive management of a police organization is the only way of maximizing the effectiveness of resources, both human and technical, to achieve departmental goals. It defines the concept of managing regarding what managers do and their relationship with those they manage” (p. 3). Which basically means that the success of an criminal justice organization depends on those who hold the power, authority, and responsibility to lead the employees of the organization. Next, researcher Podmore (2004), talked about a prison known as Brixton Prison; which was built in 1819 and developed a reputation as being one of the worst prisons to be sent to in the United States of America! He went into detail on breaking down, in his opinion, the three most fundamental aspects of a prison. “There are for me three key components in prisons: prisoners, staff and what I describe as ‘the business’” (p. 31). By focusing on providing the best training possible to all employees, all the way from leadership to entry-level, providing variations of plentiful opportunities and incentives to prisoners for cooperation in programs, and capitalizing on all available resources to create the best all around prison for those who are employed to it, those who inhabit it, and the community it protects.

Peer Response 2 :

Generational differences in law enforcement are very prevalent and can cause contention within in the ranks. In my experience, within my department the biggest contention has been created due to a split retirement. Those of us with 10 years and less have a combined retirement system (much lower pension with 401K), and the more senior department members have a full pension. Included with this new retirement system is a large gap in hiring between the two groups (6+ years between academies). Since that gap was broken, our department has completed turned around from a department that was 90% 15+ average years of service, to 75% of the department now has less than 10 years of service. To focus back on the retirement system, our system has found that many younger members of the department are leaving for higher pay, but more so for a full pension retirement. Within 5 years we will have approximately 500 members who are eligible to retire. Creating a large recruiting issue.

We are now at the point where Millennials make up the majority of the work force (ages 25-40) and our new recruiting tactics need to target Generation Z. According to McDonald (2016), Generation Z workers expect to work hard, have clear goals and expectations of their career mobility, honest leaders who provide professional development opportunities. Criminal Justice organizations now have a unique task of attracting this generation at a time when these careers are not popular, especially law enforcement. In addition to attracting applicants, law enforcement needs to find qualified, quality candidates that meet the needs of the generational differences (Hilal, Densley & Jones, 2015) of Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.

As stated above my organization (state law enforcement with roughly 2500 employees) is primarily Millennials. Millennials also make up a large part of the junior leaders within the department but make up 0% of command positions. This is understandable as law enforcement traditionally holds command positions for senior personnel. However, it does create a gap in understanding what is needed at the lower levels and in terms of recruiting future generations.

At least 175 words (including at least 1 citation each) to 2 classmate’s thread.

Responding to a classmate’s post requires both the addition of new ideas and analysis. A particular point made by the classmate must be addressed and built upon by your analysis in order to move the conversation forward. Thus, the response post is a rigorous assignment that requires you to build upon initial posts to develop deeper and more thorough discussion of the ideas introduced in the initial posts. As such, reply posts that merely affirm, restate or unprofessionally quarrel with the previous post(s) and fail to make a valuable, substantive contribution to the discussion will receive appropriate point deductions.

For your replies, respond to students who addressed a question other than the one you chose, and then give either 2 weaknesses with their post or 2 additional supporting points.