Management issues in police organizations during a health crisis
The COVID-19 health crisis resulted in significant challenges for public security institutions. Police organizations had to quickly adapt and mobilize given their responsibilities in the fight against the pandemic. This paper explored management issues within police organizations during a health crisis, employing qualitative methodology towards this objective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight policewomen and 26 police officers working in different regions of the province of Quebec. Of these, 15 worked as a patroller, nine were linked to investigative units and ten were identified as occupying a supervisory role. The material reduction method was guided by techniques specific to thematic content analysis. The main results highlight management issues at the communication level (e.g. : the rapid evolution of directives to be transmitted for the application of public health rules), as well in relation to personnel management (e.g. imposing fixed teams to reduce contacts between employees), logistics (e.g. reassignment of functions), the clarity of directives resulting from public health measures (e.g. enforcement of exceptional cases) and the training of managers (e.g. lack of knowledge regarding public health issues). The results of this study add to the body of knowledge regarding the understanding of management issues in police organizations during a health crisis such as this. A series of lessons to be learned on a practical level are also noted.