STEP-UP and LEAD: A Guide for Dynamic, Innovative Leadership in Law Enforcement
By (Author) Sheriff Mike Chapman
BookBaby
BookBaby
13th August 2025
United States
General
Non Fiction
Criminal law: procedure and offences
Paperback
212
Width 152mm, Height 228mm, Spine 12mm
344g
This book will first examine how to establish your leadership base. Whether appointed or elected, this book will provide a template on how to appeal to those who have the most influence in helping you facilitate programs you would like to initiate. It will help you understand what you should and shouldn't do to develop these programs, who should be involved in the development process, and how shared investment can positively impact your outcome.
This book will detail the Step Up strategy and the importance of assessing your personal status; establishing a vision; examine "leading by example;" discuss group dynamics, workforce synergy and how to break out of the "comfort zone;" discuss servant leadership; address the importance of internal and external communications, to include various ways to directly interact with the media; how to leverage transactional relationships; discuss the source of your "power" as a leader, as well as the restrictions you face depending on the nature of your position; the various obstacles you may face from local supervisors, council members, mayors, or county executives; how your geography and area priorities may impact your ability to enact change or achieve success; the importance of expanding your influence through organizational memberships; how to deal with your adversaries; the importance of data-driven leadership, and to best pursue the best ideas for your organization as a whole, no matter where that idea originated. It is designed to provide state, local and federal law enforcement leadership with a roadmap of how to achieve success within their departments beyond what they would have previously dreamed of, how to develop ideas and initiatives that sell themselves; how they can garner the support of the boards, councils, senior executives, elected officials they serve and organizations they are associated with; and how they can get the people they serve, the voters and constituents, on their side.
Finally, disloyalty, subterfuge and treachery will also be addressed. It is critical that you have a true support network, a tight circle of confidants who you can bounce ideas off without the risk of that information being compromised people that believe in you, know what you stand for, will provide you with honest feedback, and will stick with you through thick and thin. It will describe, in detail, the STEP-Up philosophy (improved Service, Technology, Efficiency and Professionalism), conduct a deep dive into its critical elements, and provide guidance on how to design specific goals using the STEP-Up strategy. It will provide measurements for success in the respective categories and discuss how you, as a leader, can leverage these successes for even greater future successes. It will also address the need for and ability to conduct public and media outreach, where to obtain expert help to develop greater confidence, and provide a template for media success. If you are an elected official, this book will provide you with the insight and innovation you will need for re-election. If you are an appointed official, it will provide you with the insight, power and influence that could help you keep your position or advance to the next level.
"Once I picked up this book, I could not put it down. Mike Chapman has had an exceptional law enforcement career all over the globe, and I had the privilege of working with him. No one has a better track record of leadership and innovation, and this book is an insider's look at what it takes to succeed."
Richard Fiano
Chief of Operations (Retired),
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
Commander of Criminal Investigations (Retired),
Loudoun County Sheriff's Office
"As one of America's most successful sheriffs, Mike Chapman's stories about leadership decision-making are ones we can all relate to and learn from."
Jonathan Thompson
Executive Director and CEO,
National Sheriff's Association
"Mike Chapman's 46-year career in law enforcement has included local and federal service, as well as time in the private sector with me. His success is a testament to vision, diligence, and making tough decisions, all of which are showcased in this compelling read."
Dale Watson
Senior Executive Advisor,
Booz Allen Hamilton
Executive Assistant Director, National Security Branch (Retired),
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Mike Chapman was elected as Sheriff of Loudoun County, Virginia in 2011 and took office January 2012. He was reelected to his fourth term in 2023. He was selected as the National Sheriffs' Association Ferris E. Lucas "Sheriff of the Year" in 2023. He was also voted "Best Public Servant" by readers of the Loudoun Times Mirror in 2022, 2023, and 2024; and Favorite Public Servant in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 by readers of Loudoun Now, the two newspapers serving Loudoun County.
Sheriff Chapman directs a $150M annual budget and operations for the largest full service Sheriff's office in the Commonwealth of Virginia handling county-wide law enforcement, the jail and the courts. The Sheriff's Office employs approximately 700 sworn deputies and 200 civilian personnel, serving a population of 447,000.
During his four terms in office, Sheriff Chapman has expanded the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) to include both Elementary and Middle Schools (named D.A.R.E. Executive of the Year), established a Cold Case squad; enhanced media outreach through integrated technology and proactive social media; introduced on-line reporting; professionalized the human resources and hiring processes; and, through his Step-Up initiative, improved service, technology, efficiency and professionalism. Sheriff Chapman initiated Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training for deputies and dispatchers in 2012 - a program that leads the region for CIT Training. With DEA and other stakeholders, he addressed the rapidly growing national and local heroin and opioid problem and more recently has become laser-focused on fentanyl related poisonings.
Sheriff Chapman serves on the Executive Board for the National Sheriffs' Association; the Virginia Sheriffs' Association's Board of Directors as Region VI Director, and the D.A.R.E. Law Enforcement Advisory Board. He was appointed by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to the Department of Criminal Justice Services Board. He served for five years as Vice President of Homeland Security for the Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA) and was Chair of the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Board. Sheriff Chapman graduated from the FBI National Executive Institute (NEI) and Law Enforcement Executive Development Association (LEEDA); the US Army War College National Security (Certificate of Leadership Development); the National Sheriffs' Institute, the Virginia Sheriffs' Institute (VSI), Virginia Commonwealth University's Sheriffs' Institute, earned the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services' Executive Certification and received the VSI Certification. He has had numerous articles published in professional periodicals to include The Hill, International Chiefs of Police The Police Chief, FBI LEEDA "Insighter," and the Richmond Times Dispatch, among others.
Sheriff Chapman formerly worked for the Howard County, Maryland, Police Department in the Divisions of Patrol, SWAT and Criminal Investigations; and for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration DEA where he directed all operations throughout the Far East, served as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge in San Francisco, CA; as DEA's Chief of Public Affairs; as the Country Attache for Seoul, Korea; as a Supervisor in McAllen, Texas; and in field assignments in Miami, Tampa, and Pakistan. Prior to his election, Sheriff Chapman worked as a Subject Matter Expert on the Global Security/Law Enforcement team with Booz Allen and Hamilton.
Sheriff Chapman is married to the former Ann Rafferty, and they have six children and eleven grandchildren. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of Maryland, and a Master's in Public Administration from Troy State University.