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police organisational culture
Organizational culture in police work
Organizational culture in police work
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) Why do police officer perceive themselves as true outsiders, especially after many years on the job?
There of plenty of reasons why officers perceive themselves as true outsiders. One main factor has to do it the experience and perception of danger in these communities. Senior officers create memories of their experiences after a few years of duty that leaves a psychological scar that stick with them forever. This is the main reason they refer to themselves as true outsiders from the community that they serve (Haberfeld et al.2014, pg.200).
2) What are some of the mechanisms involved in the transmission of police culture and subcultures from one generation to the next, and what are some examples of how these manifest in on the job encounters? As stated in The Pillar of Democracy”, by Haberfeld M.R. (MAKI), Charles Lieberman and Amber Horning (pg.201), the way culture evolves depends on the individual persons. Police cultural is a set behavioral patterns passed on by the members of the teams to the new members and such patterns of behavioral pattern stay long after the retirement or departure of the one who originated the behaviors.
Organic and Supra-Organic- the police profession manifest in the way that officers perceive and respond to various
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In several cases, folks will set aside their personal beliefs or adopt the opinion of the rest of the group. Group-think influences police officer’s rationalizations for some behaviors by preventing members of the group from reconsidering their beliefs while causing them to ignore warning signs. Group-think tends to occur more in situations where group members are very similar to one another and is more likely to take place when a powerful and charismatic leader commands the group. Situations in which the group is placed under extreme stress or where moral dilemmas exist also increase the occurrence of groupthink (Haberfeld et al.2014,
In this essay, I will investigate and describe a cultural group in my desired field. I will provide details from an interview with a professional person in my field of interest. Gender inequality is still a big issue in law enforcement. Women make up a small percentage in the world of law enforcement. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, there are only thirteen percent of women working in law enforcement in the United States and only five percent are African American (Criminal Justice School Info, 2014). The New York City Police Department hired the first female officers in 1845 and they were called “matrons” (Felperin, 2004). Over twenty years of extensive research has shown that female officers possess a unique style of policing in which they rely more on their interpersonal skills rather than physical strength or force to talk a person down from a violent situation (National Center for Women & Policing, 2013).
Not only does sub-culture play a big role in police corruption, but also so does
While on the job, police must put all their personal opinions aside. They must provide everyone with an equal and fair chance. It is important in a democratic society for police to not know too much about the community they are policing. It allows them to ...
10. Walker, Samuel (1999). The Police in America: An Introduction (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Despite the stereotype, police officers are people first and cops second. They generally act the way they are supposed to in their work environment. In Aiken I have the pleasure of knowing many cops. Personally I have seen nothing but good things come from them. Many in the Aiken area spend their extra time helping with youth sports. A retired police chief, in fact, helped coach a travel baseball team in Aiken recently. Aiken is definitely not the only place that generally has good cops. For instance, in Norfolk, Virginia officers make an effort to break stereotypes by being involved with the community. They play cards and other games with kids and many other things (Ciara). Cops throughout America are trying to break these stereotypes and show who they really are as a person to save lives and for the community to feel safe around law enforcement. Police officers act as individuals while off duty, but while on duty they react to certain situations in certain ways. Police officers react on duty the way they are trained. Law enforcement follows strict rules and regulations in general. They also follow rules on the way they react to certain situations. In most circumstances police officers react to situations and act in a better way than most average people. According to Police Chief Magazine: “Police officers are held to a higher standard of behavior by society, because they are stewards of the public (Gleason T).” Police officers in training are usually taught ethics to help them judge how to act on the job. This helps them not only solve problems right, but know consequences when they are done
Every culture is composed of four elements: “values, norms, beliefs, and expressive symbols” (Peterson, 1979, p. 137). Each police officer is influenced by the police organizational culture during training. After graduation fro the police academy, the officer is influenced by the more experienced officers of the department. Research conducted by several authors has found that peer influence never ceases even after years of experience in the field.
It is both a result and a cause of police isolation from the larger society and of police solidarity. Its influence begins early in the new officer’s career when he is told by more experienced officers that the “training given in police academies is irrelevant to ‘real’ police work”. What is relevant, recruits are told, is the experience of senior officers who know the ropes or know how to get around things. Recruits are often told by officers with considerable experience to forget what they learned in the academy and in college and to start learning real police work as soon as they get to their Field Training Officers. Among the first lessons learned are that police officers share secrets among themselves and that those secrets especially when they deal with activities that are questionable in terms of ethics, legality, and departmental policy, are not to be told to others. They also are told that administrators and Internal Affairs officers cannot often be trusted. This emphasis on the police occupational subculture results in many officers regarding themselves as members of a “blue
Walker, S., & Katz, C. (2012). Police in America: An Introduction (8th Edition ed.). New York:
Power conformity is parallel behavior to obtain rewards and avoid punishments from the larger group (Levy, 1). What the individual attempts to obtain are cues from the group to articulate the appropriate response in a situation. Individuals conform to these standards because they wish to achieve solidarity. Therefore, police solidarity effects the socialization process to the subculture and police work because new members are trying to increase their solidarity with the group. Encouraging individuals to conform and obey social norms can be done through formal and informal means. Although individuals begin with different attitudes, they are socialized into the attitudes and behavior of the group. For example, a rookie African American officer
Police are sometimes stereotyped to be rugged, single minded enforcers who are insensitive to families in their most vulnerable state (Cross, Finkelhor, Ormrod, 2005). This would be an ideal approach to implement; however there seem to be difficult relationships between the two systems as they both hold different values and beliefs.
Using the social learning theory, a recent study found that associating with deviant officers had a major effect on officers committing deviant behavior that resulted in citizen complaints. According to researchers, “officers’ vulnerable to organizational subcultures makes differential peer associations imperative, as they may enable deviant behavior by spreading the beliefs, values, definitions, and manners of expression that depart from satisfactory behavior” (Chappell & Piquero, 2004, p. 93). Officers typically approach the job in hopes of making an impact on the community and protecting citizens. It is their interaction with other officers who are involved in defiant behavior that typically affects those officers who previously followed
A common style of police leadership is a more bureaucratic style where the leader manages “by the book”, everything must be done in accordance with pre-written policies and procedures (Cordner & Scarborough, 2010). When a certain problem or concern isn’t covered by the book the leader refers to the next level for a decision. This style removes the ability of the leader to manage and forces a strict accordance to the “book”. This style can be very effective when dealing with dangerous situations which can be a common occurrence in police work.
would just like to piggyback off what you said by saying that police subculture is a method used to set a standard of behavior that is considered to be appropriate for law enforcement personnel. A strong cultural value among police is considered to be inportant to act tough and demonstrate to fellow officers that they are capable of handling just about anything. Sometimes displays of emotion are not encouraged, because this may demonstrate an image that police officers are weak. Therefore, officers often keep problems to themselves. However, this same culture appreciates dry, sarcastic humor that may seem dark to outsiders, but it allows officers to mentally deal with disturbing situations.
Bridgman, T. (2011). Treading the thin blue line: Embedding culture change at New Zealand Police (Case Part A) Australia and New Zealand School of Government Case Program, Reference 2011-639.1.
Lyman, Michael D. (2005). The Police an Introduction. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.