May 17, 2025

New PERF book on the first six months of a police chief’s tenure

PERF members,

Today we are releasing a guide to help new police chiefs and sheriffs navigate the first six months on the job. Below is my opening message from the book, which explains why we wrote this guide and what it contains.

Fresh from her installation ceremony, a new police chief is just settling into her office when the head of Internal Affairs asks for a few minutes and closes the door. He is carrying a box of reports, which he places on the chief’s desk. “Chief, your predecessor has been sitting on these cases for months, and you need to make some decisions.” The chief learns that one of the investigations involves a popular member of the department who was promoted to a command position by the last chief just weeks before he retired.

In another community, the new sheriff is making the rounds meeting with groups of deputies. One particularly outspoken group says that officer morale is the lowest it has been in years. To help turn the situation around, they encourage the sheriff to loosen the department’s restrictive vehicle pursuit policy, saying that it will send an immediate message to deputies that the new sheriff “gets it” and has their backs.

In other communities:

• A new chief comes into a department where his predecessor was revered by both officers and the community. Within the first month, the chief proposes to change the department’s long-standing badge and patch and to rename or discontinue popular programs.
• A new sheriff, elected on a platform to make substantial changes, begins her first message to the agency by emphasizing the need to “reform” the organization and overhaul its “culture.” She assesses the department to be a “B- agency” at best.
• Another chief, making the move from a medium-sized agency in the Midwest to a large department on the West Coast, suddenly faces the dual challenges of not only leading a department but also finding a home he can afford and schools that are a good fit for his children.

Then, there is the chief who is promoted from within the agency with the mandate to “shake things up” in a department that has grown complacent. He is popular with rank-and-file and agency leadership alike—members of the command staff still call him by his first name. But just a few weeks into his tenure, he is confronted with a questionable officer-involved shooting that has angered the community and attracted national media attention. To promote transparency, he decides to release the officer’s name and body-worn camera footage. Both the union and command staff say the easygoing colleague they once knew has changed, and a no-confidence vote is planned.

The challenges facing a new police chief or sheriff are myriad and unpredictable. The problem is that there is no playbook for the new chief executive to follow, whether they come from inside or outside the agency. There’s no orientation session or onboarding process that can possibly cover the unique and varied situations new chiefs will confront. And one thing is a given: Within their first few months in office, almost every new chief can expect to face challenges and crises that require quick thinking and nimble decision-making. How the new chief responds to the inevitable crises, as well as to the important decisions they will face in their first few months, will be crucial to their leadership and even, perhaps, to their longevity.

New chiefs will face operational decisions, such as assessing organizational strengths, reviewing policies, determining crime-fighting priorities, and figuring out how best to organize the department to address weaknesses and implement strategies. And beyond deciding what needs to change, new chiefs have to figure out when and how to implement those changes. Act too quickly and they may alienate members of the department who need time to understand and buy into their vision. Act too slowly and they may frustrate community members and political leaders who are clamoring for change.

Chiefs will have to make personnel decisions, such as evaluating existing talent and building a leadership team that the chief can trust and work with. Can the new chief bring trusted professionals with them from the outside to help fill critical roles? And if so, how can they integrate these outsiders into the organization without alienating current personnel? If the new chief comes from a right-to-work state, they may have to learn the intricacies of leading a department with a strong union and collective bargaining.

There are political issues affecting the chief’s relationships with a range of stakeholders, including the mayor, city manager, other elected leaders, the community, and the news media. How the new chief spends their time will say a lot about the chief’s personality and priorities. New chiefs have to grapple with finding the right balance between spending time in the community and spending time inside the department, between being open and accessible to the media and coming across as a showboat, and between following the mayor’s lead and demonstrating independence in running the department.

And, of course, there are many personal matters that new chiefs may need to attend to—relocating to a new city, finding housing, supporting a spouse or partner in their new career, enrolling children in school, and maintaining some semblance of a personal life.

While these and other challenges are at least somewhat foreseeable, there will inevitably be unexpected crises that will test the new chief’s strength and judgment. These could range from mass shootings to natural disasters, use-of-force incidents to an officer killed in the line of duty. Forecasting if or when these events may occur is impossible, but everyone will expect the new chief to have the answers.

How a new police chief or sheriff handles the challenges and crises during their first six months can have a lasting and indelible impact on the chief executive’s leadership and tenure. One wrong move or poor decision can be devastating to a new chief. There is no magic to the six-month time frame. But experience suggests that six months provides new chiefs with ample time to both learn the ropes and set the tone for their leadership. As such, the first six months serve as a defining moment for new chiefs.

To better understand this critical time period and help new chiefs navigate it, PERF turned to the experts: a cross-section of police leaders who have been there. We conducted in-depth interviews with nearly 30 current and former police chiefs and sheriffs. Most have led more than one agency during their careers, so they were able to draw upon experiences of multiple first six-month periods. We asked about the challenges they faced, the successful strategies they implemented, and the “rookie” mistakes they made.

This publication reflects their experiences and the insights and wisdom they gained from stepping up to lead a police agency. The book also draws upon PERF’s own understanding of the issues new chiefs face. Through research, our Executive Search services, and the Senior Management Institute for Police, we have learned about the range of challenges a new chief can expect to face and how they can successfully navigate them. This is an area I have taken a special interest in during my years at PERF. I have worked with countless chiefs before, during, and after their selections, and I have learned much from them about the hiring process.

I am constantly impressed by the men and women who step up and accept the challenge of leading a modern law enforcement agency. Being a chief or sheriff can be taxing, involving long hours, personal sacrifice, and frequent criticism from all sides. But the job can be exceptionally rewarding as well. I hope this guide will help recent and future chiefs get off to a good start and enjoy long and successful careers leading our nation’s law enforcement agencies.

Whether you’re about to start a new position, hoping to one day be a chief, or already an experienced police executive, I think you’ll find the book useful. For years, I’ve seen new police chiefs and sheriffs navigate their first six months in the role without a clear roadmap. This book will help prepare these leaders for the challenges, complexities, and opportunities they’ll encounter. For example, one section of the book highlights “rookie mistakes” that a new chief or sheriff will want to avoid.

I see this as the third entry in our series of books that help police executives navigate their careers. Command Performance helps aspiring leaders become chiefs, Chapter 2 helps police professionals prepare for life after their first careers, and this fits the time period in between, as new chiefs and sheriffs begin leading their organizations.

This is the 53rd publication in our Critical Issues in Policingseries. For more than two decades, the Motorola Solutions Foundation has supported this series, which has produced many of PERF’s most influential projects. I’m extremely grateful for their ongoing partnership.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Chuck