‘The show must go on’: Reflections on ‘leadership theatre’ in policing from the inside

16th September 2024Dr Sarah Charman, University of Portsmouth

A recent article in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography shared the personal experiences of a senior police officer (‘Phil Corkhill’, a pseudonym) rejoining their force from a College of Policing secondment during Covid-19, and highlighted how leaders often conform to authoritarian and potentially damaging leadership approaches; in this article, University of Portsmouth Criminology Professor Dr Sarah Charman (who co-authored the original piece) explores the issues around prevailing management cultures and the ‘appearance over substance’ concerns of ‘leadership theatre’.

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‘The show must go on’: Reflections on ‘leadership theatre’ in policing from the inside

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