Abstract:

This article examines how Norwegian police leaders tackled the societal, organizational and leadership challenges during the Covid-19 crisis. The article explores how a sample of police leaders (N=28) and the leader group of the Oslo Police Department in Norway experienced, responded to, and learned from handling the Covid-19 pandemic, how they practiced, learned, and further developed the police's leadership practices by adapting this to the demanding conditions brought about by the pandemic. The Covid-19 crisis was a positive stress test for the Norwegian police service. The handling of the pandemic exposed the police leaders to demanding leadership challenges. Throughout the pandemic, it was possible to identify three areas of police leadership: everyday operations, the implementation of a comprehensive reform (2016-2020) which dealt with structure and quality as well as leadership and culture during the period with Covid-19. These factors added a challenge of a magnitude not previously experienced by police leaders in Norway. Police leaders faced, 'wicked' problems – highly complex problems involving high levels of uncertainty, urgency, and interconnection. Unlike 'tame' problems, wicked problems have no easy solutions and tackling them requires greater creativity and flexibility. The participants were requested to answer a questionnaire with open answer alternatives. They were asked three questions: In your experience, what were the most important leadership-related challenges when dealing with the pandemic? What were the most important measures and/or leadership-related interventions? As a police leader, what are your most important experiences gained so far regarding the handling of the pandemic? Participants were able to respond freely. In this article, we have placed the main emphasis on perceived challenges related to the handling of the crisis and what Norwegian police have learned about crisis leadership represented by the police leaders in the study. The pandemic entailed various management measures such as staff and reinforced line, absence of physical interaction arenas challenged interaction, home office and distance meant that it was demanding to follow up employees and managers at the level below, that is conducting remote management. Internally in the police organisation, there was an increased need for information. Digital communication was established and worked. Decision-making and interaction processes were influenced and streamlined. Important learning points were the necessity to take good care of the employees. The participants generally described the learning process they went through regarding leadership as from chaos to control. They learned and developed a form of emergency management characterized by clear lines, efficient information sharing and quick decisions. They learned that effective police leadership during crises had to be in the form of intention-based and trust-based leadership. The pandemic meant a long-lasting crisis. The Covid-19 period was a turning point for new ways of solving problems, adaptation, learning and development as well as new ways of exercising leadership. In this sense, the pandemic was a significant driver for the learning and development of the police, especially regarding leadership, decision-making, communication, and interaction processes.

Keywords:

Police management, police leadership, leadership-related challenges, learning, development, adopting to new conditions, distant leadership.