Exploring the roles and challenges of the servant leadership: A critical examination of the Bangladesh police

The police work relentlessly to control national, transnational, and economic cybercrimes despite the numerous internal, external, mental, physical, political, and social problems they face. This study attempted to assess the servant leadership (SL) roles of the police and the challenges they face with regard to SL practice. Using a self-directed survey questionnaire, the current study collected open-ended responses from 88 Bangladesh Police (BP) personnel ranking from Assistant Superintendent of Police to Additional Deputy Inspector General. The authors identified the SL roles of police, such as terrorism control, judicial assistance, empowering subordinates, engaging the community, police-media relationship, and contributing to the national economy. Besides, the participant observation method was used to explore several challenges that the police face in regard to SL practice, such as long working hours, inadequate logistical support, work stress, insufficient compensation package, and unfair promotion & performance appraisal system. This study recommended increasing cooperation among top and bottom-line police, including bottom-line police in decision-making authority, providing adequate logistic support and training and development opportunities to the police personnel, and ensuring fair promotion and performance appraisal system for the police.