
Leadership in Law Enforcement
By Steven M. Sheridan
Leadership For Law Enforcement – What you Need Before You Lead, is designed to get us back in touch with the foundations of leadership in the profession of police work. Even though it is well established leadership is not positional, leadership programs and literature are still heavily weighted with advanced ideas and concepts for those in a leadership position. The basics of leadership are rarely covered. Leadership For Law Enforcement – What You Need Before You Lead, is written to provide guidance to re-establish and reacquaint ourselves with the core concepts behind leadership the action – not the position. Who we are, who we aspire to be, our agreement with the public (including their responsibility in keeping the peace), clarifying our mission, our language, and more.
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Meet The Author

Steven M. Sheridan M. Ed
Steve has been in law enforcement for more than 25 years, 24 years as an instructor, designing and implementing highly specialized courses and programs in firearms, defensive tactics, and high-risk vehicle and vessel stops, Response to Resistance and or Aggression, and verbal De-Escalation. He has also supervised and trained special teams in law enforcement. He was inducted into the Police Hall of Fame for Life Saving in 2010. He is currently a star instructor at a state police academy.
Steve has a B.S. degree in Sociology from FSU (1994), and he holds a Masters in Adult Education from the University of Phoenix (2010). He is also the founder and president of the Leadership and Training Research Institute and Director of Training for De-Escalate which teaches verbal De-Escalation skills to Police, Corrections, Schools, Security Personnel, and Hospitals. He has developed and taught classes to sworn law enforcement agencies and academies such as; Alcohol Beverage & Tobacco Agents, Florida Public Safety Institute (Sudden Assault Survival for Smaller Officers, Team Tactics for Handcuffing and Control Advanced Teaching Methods for Firearms Instructors, and more). He has presented for ILEETA )international Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association) and isn an IADLEST (international Association o Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training) certified national instructor as well. He has also presented leadership programs for public and private sector organizations around the country including US Virgin Islands Police Department ad Arthur J Gallagher Company. He owned and operated a martial arts school for 7 years before getting back into law enforcement full time.
In 2020 he played a key role in getting the first response to resistance policy (use of force) through the accreditation process for a local college which removed the inaccurate use of the term “force” when related to police actions.
Steve is the founder of the Cognitive Warrior initiative which includes a podcast discussing today’s issues regarding communities with an emphasis on the role between citizens and the law enforcement profession.
He is a published author, “Florida Anyway You Can,” an account of his becoming the first person to hike the Florida Trail and Canoe the Length of the state He has a new book due out in May 2022; Leadership in Law Enforcement – What You Need Before You Lead. This book discusses in more detail how our profession can recenter, and then get our communities to do the same.