Differences in terms of desirable competencies of police officers

Police work is influenced by numerous dynamic changes related to the development of democratic standards, new technologies applied in police work, development of new approaches and methods in police work, as well as the entry of new generations of employees into the police organization. In the context of community-oriented policing and intelligence-led policing, which are characteristic for democracies, the question is which skills and competencies police officers need to have in order to meet the demands of new police paradigms and new security challenges. This paper seeks to answer these questions through a survey of the desirable skills of police officers among three groups of respondents: future police officers - participants in adult education program for the police profession, police officers in charge for education and chiefs of police stations. The survey was conducted during November and December 2018, and data were collected through a questionnaire composed of variables representing six dimensions of policing skills: public service, openness to change, goal achievement / task execution, professionalism, decision making, and working with others. The research has shown that there is a difference between the three categories of respondents in the variables: openness to change, achieving goals / performing tasks and making decisions, primarily in the way that participants in adult education program for the police profession show a higher degree of compliance with the claims that these competencies are important for police officers.