Tara Fenwick, Richard Dockrell & Bonnie Slade ProPEL, University of Stirling Professionalism, Competence, Learning and Leadership

high range of criminality - low volume all on your own no specialists at hand figure it out - little modeling thrown in the deep end - junior officers thrust into big responsibilities managing whole situations wide scope of responsibility Theres a lot of test of your calibre. Can you deal with a huge range of different things well?

identifying key issues for building community adapting to changing community values inter-professional linkages – key agencies clarifying roles, expertise and boundaries taking initiative – educating the community managing community expectations proactive community engagement

reading community quickly building the right relationships negotiation and balancing very creative problem-solving, quick decision-making defusing, reframing, and averting wide range of policing skills, little routine able to handle complex high stress situations independently taking initiative to build policings role in community key skills in rural policing

the problem with by the book Professionals are asked to engage in complex and unpredictable tasks on society's behalf, and in doing so must exercise their discretion, making judgments-decide what is "best" in the particular situation rather than what is "right" in some absolute sense. where the book stops but policing continues: gauge, judge, measure. Robust management, relaxed supervision and positive leadership Leadership and supervision When you have been in a place for a reasonable length of time you have real ownership … and hopefully know the best approach to have it resolved and this does conflict with the Scottish crime recording standard in terms of the black and white

Managing in the grey The main findings support the now common notion that transformational leadership has positive effects. However, studies suggest that the ability to apply different leadership styles, including transactional, to suit different contexts is the key to great police leadership. Neyroud 2011 Community Leadership/ Relationship Leadership where the role of leadership is more widely distributed Leadership and supervision Discretion, autonomy opportunity, know where the boundaries are.

1.Are there implications here for supervision, leadership and general governance in rural policing? 2.Are there implications here for training and development of officers for rural policing? 3.Overall, what are implications here for the future of rural policing? Questions for you to consider