Part 1: A Brief Summary

Police Chief Melvin Wearing became New Haven’s first African-American assistant
chief of police (1993), chief of police (1997), and he was responsible for the overall
operation and management of the department which has 425 sworn and 25 civilian
members. Throughout his career, Wearing has received many honors and awards from
the department and community organizations for professionalism, bravery, and
excellence in police work.

Wearing supported youth oriented policing by providing the organizational

structure and resources to create new strategies and initiatives to address youth related
issues, provides the necessary leadership for the department to continue its community
policing efforts, and working on a department plan utilizing order maintenance strategies
to take community policing in New Haven to the next level. Melvin Wearing’s leadership
paved the way to make the men and women of New Haven Police Department the
guardians for the city. As what the Department’s motto says, “We strongly believe in
shared responsibility and partnership with our community by creating a safe and culturally
diverse, and inclusive city. We are staunchly dedicated to, and will carry out this mission
with professionalism, fairness, and absolute integrity.”

Part 2: SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

 Human Assets

The members exhibit unconditional loyalty and commitment supported by honesty and
integrity. Each member displays a strong image and good reputation within the
Department and community. The members possess diverse backgrounds with
experience and expertise in corrections, traffic enforcement, criminal investigations, and
patrol functions. The members are also diverse in age, gender, and race. These
diversities have given strength to the collective efficiency and effectiveness of the Unit.
The members of the Unit have attended numerous internal affairs training sessions.

 Valuable Intangible Assets

The image of the Staff Services Unit among its internal customers is positive. Informal
feedback received from internal customers has been positive. In an effort to promote open
and accurate communications, completed internal investigative reports are disseminated
to agency personnel. This practice promotes accurate communications. It has also
enhanced the reputation of Staff Services as being a fair and impartial Unit.
Weaknesses:

 Culture/Perception

Members of the Staff Services Unit must always be cognizant of negative

perceptions of the Unit among agency personnel. Every effort must be made to enhance
positive perceptions while avoiding all appearances of impropriety.

 Costly in Physical Assets

The weakness of leading a police transformation workforce is that it will be so costly

in the transformation in terms of the equipment and facilities that needs to be use and
replace in order to improve the capabilities of the police officers.

Opportunities:

 Development of an internal leadership and management program aimed at

developing current and future leaders.

 Support of officers as they seek to maintain and improve their training and

Education.

 Recruitment and Retention initiatives and strategies

Threats:

 Learning and Growth

The threat of leading a police force transformation is that the learning and growth may
be ineffective for the reason that Chief Wearing might establish this kind of program yet
he still needs to have his authoritarian, composed and resilient attitude in order for this
program to be effective to everyone of course for the long run.

 Globalization/Transnational crimes

Transnational organized crime (TOC) poses a significant and growing threat to

national and international security, with dire implications for public safety, public health,
democratic institutions, and economic stability across the globe. Not only are criminal
networks expanding, but they also are diversifying their activities, resulting in the
convergence of threats that were once distinct and today have explosive and destabilizing
effects.

 Political Intervention

Part 3: Case Study Questions

1. He showed solidarity with his team by wearing blues. He made sure that they knew
they were all on the same page and were a team working towards a common goal. He
was firm where there was need for it. By telling them to not even think about messing
about, he established that the department and its doings were serious business. He gave
incentives. The developments in the shape of air conditioning, and up gradation of
department’s technology and equipment probably made it clear that he wanted nothing
short of the best, and also gave the team a favorable environment in which they could
take a fresh start and do their best. By diversifying the workforce through inclusion of
minorities, he allowed for multiple sets of qualities and traits to be available to the police.

2. The most appropriate leadership style for this case seems to be the leader-follower
relations. Fiedler felt that this was the key: “A leader who is liked, accepted, and trusted
by his members will find it easy to make his [or her] influence felt.” And as we know that
Chief Wearing, even before he became Chief was respected by the people who were
going to be his subordinates, it makes sense that he was so easily accepted as the leader
and heeded. It was because they considered him ‘compassionate’ and ‘humanistic’.

3. If we were Chief Wearing, we would make sure that we took the already present team
in confidence so that they know that our ultimate priority will always be efficiency and
betterment of the team. This would establish that any step we take would be a step
forward in that direction. Once that was done, we would recruit people from other groups
and minorities of people to give them a chance to prove to everyone that diversity only
helps. The fact that we are part of the black people population should add to the ultimate
impact of such decision.

Part 4: Group Reflection

In an organization that was already ruined or broken, there must be a change or

restoration of its own. In this case study, the new leader is a very effective one. He has a
diagnostic skill wherein he was able to see directly to the problem and was able to
determine the cause and effect of the problem that is why he was also able to identify
how to solve the problem inside the organization. He knows what the organization's goal
is and that is to mend the problem inside the organization. He was determined to achieve
the terminal values of the organization and knew exactly the instrumental values of their
terminal goal. He was an effective leader who is capable of motivating his members to do
their works effectively and efficiently by using the Hersey and Blanchard model of
leadership wherein he had considered his followers in every action or steps he takes.
Wearing had a Charismatic type of leadership that had also contributed as he had
transformed the organization. In this society nowadays, we need to have a leader like
Wearing who is capable to flip every situations he encountered. All leaders being like
Wearing, it is not impossible to attain the change.