POLICE CULTURE

Police culture is an example of an occupational culture to which new recruits become socialized.

It is thought that police culture is one of several demand characteristics which shape routine decision-making by the police.

The term "police culture" can refer to several different aspects of policing. It can refer to the "us versus them" attitude that is attributed to police forces almost everywhere, where by "them" can be variously meant "society at large," "criminals" and "senior police officials." It can also refer to police attitudes towards the use of their discretionary powers, especially where the end (protecting society from criminals) is thought to justify the means (for example, unlawful searches, excessive use of force and untruthful testimony). Finally, it can refer to the strong feeling of loyalty towards and solidarity with fellow officers, a feeling which goes beyond what is normally encountered among employees, even other professionals. In this brief I use "police culture" in this last sense.
POLICE CULTURE AND THE "CODE OF SILENCE" By John Westwood, Ph.D.

Shedding Light on Police Culture: An Examination of Officers’ Occupational Attitudes - Eugene A. Paoline, III, University of Central Florida - pqx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/7/2/205
Research on police culture has generally fallen within one of two competing camps—one that depicts culture as an occupational phenomenon that encompasses all police officers and one that focuses on officer differences. The latter conceptualization of police culture suggests subcultures (or at least segmentation) that bound or delimit the occupational culture.

Using survey data collected as part of the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN) in two municipal police departments, the research reported here examines the similarities and differences among contemporary police officer attitudes in an effort to locate some of the boundaries of the occupational culture of police. Seven analytically distinct groups of officers are identified, suggesting that officers are responding to and coping with aspects of their occupational world in different ways. The findings call into question some of the assumptions associated with a monolithic police culture. 

Using oral history to investigate police culture, Tom Cockcroft, Canterbury Christ Church University College, qrj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/5/3/365
This article focuses upon the use of oral history methodology in relation to studying the work of the police and, particularly, the culture or cultures of the police. An overview of oral history is followed by a discussion of the application of such techniques to investigating police work. This, in turn, is followed by an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of such methodological techniques when used in a piece of research which investigated the culture of the Metropolitan Police Force between the 1930s and 1960s. 

CHANGING POLICE CULTURE 
JANET CHAN - bjc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/36/1/109
This paper reviews the concept of police culture and its utility for analysing the impact of police reform. The persistence of police culture has been considered a serious obstacle to reform, but the concept itself has been poorly defined and is of little analytic value. Drawing on Bourdieu's concepts of ‘field’ and ‘habitus’ and adopting a framework developed by Sackmann, this paper suggests a new way of conceptualizing police culture, one which recognizes its interpretive and creative aspects, as well as the legal and political context of police work. Thus, police culture results from an interaction between the ‘field’ of policing and the various dimensions of police organizational knowledge. The utility of this framework is discussed in relation to a case study of reforming police/minorities relations in Australia.

A social constructionist account of police culture and its influence on the representation and progression of female officers: A repertory grid analysis in a UK police force 
Dick P. Jankowicz D. - Source: Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management
Abstract: The police organisation receives much media attention regarding its record on Equal Opportunities. Research suggests that the organisational culture in police organisations plays a major role in impeding the progress of women. Using repertory grid technique, the culture of a police force, conceptualised at the level of performance value judgements or recipe knowledge was investigated. It is argued that rank, rather than gender has the greatest influence on the content of performance value judgements and that this is attributable to the way that hierarchy influences the way in which the grass-roots role is constructed. We argue that women's progression is impeded not because of dominant constructions of the role per se, but by the way such constructions intersect with broader socio-cultural constructions of women's domestic roles.

Police Culture and the Learning Organisation: A Relationship?
Peter Shanahan - avetra.org.au/abstracts_and_papers_2000/ps_full.pdf
ABSTRACT: Both police culture and learning organisations are amorphous concepts. This paper examines the basic elements of police culture and the learning organisation and looks at their relationship in the context of the South Australia Police. The question is raised, does the culture of SAPOL affect its ability to evolve into a learning organisation? If there is a relationship between the two, is police culture an impediment or advantage to the evolutionary process.
INTRODUCTION: This paper forms the foundation for my research, which is a collaborative effort between the University of South Australia and the South Australia Police (SAPOL). The project commenced in July 1997 and its general intent was to explore the relationship between police culture and learning. In order to do this I have examined the concepts of both police culture and the learning organisation. Using these concepts as my foundation I commenced my research using the resources of the 3,600 strong South Australia Police to explore my thesis that there was a relationship between police culture and learning on the way to becoming a learning organisation.
Briefly, my methodology consisted of a quantitative survey of 10% of the organisation, stratified across rank, gender and location. The return rate for this survey was 55%. The results of this quantitative survey were analysed with the use of the SPSS program. Results that showed statistical significance and significance in their description of SAPOL's culture and learning were then further analysed in order to determine if they showed any common cultural themes. I then conducted 12 in depth interviews which lasted for an average of about 1 hour, in order to further explore the quantitative results that had undergone my subjective analysis.
In order to simplify my analysis, I have broken down both the police culture and the learning organisation literature into useable elements so that any links may be easier to both establish and box. My model of the learning organisation is described in this paper, as are what I consider to be the most important generic elements of police culture. Analysis of the results of this research is not yet complete and this paper serves as the foundation upon which my thesis, exploring police culture and its influence on SAPOL as a learning organisation, is based.

A Brief Discussion of Police Culture and How It Affects Police Responses to Internal Investigations and Civilian Oversight
Inspector Robert G. Hall, Winnipeg Police Service - September 19th, 2002 cacole.ca
While most elements of police culture are universal, each agency possesses its own personal and distinctive organizational culture. So then, what is police culture? I’ve yet to discover an uncomplicated definition. The definitions I have found are many and varied, some extremely complex. McDonald et al have held: “The concept of police culture is comprised of the merging of two major components a) the image of impartial and professional crime fighters that the police have of themselves, and b) a system of beliefs and behaviour not described in published manuals or agency value statements.”

This definition, while not necessarily identifying a compelling positive element, does recognize more than just the negative.

The public demands all professions be held to a high standard, but for obvious reasons policing has an even higher threshold to meet. All police officers must accept this higher standard. An integral part of the process of police acceptance of this higher standard is understanding the police culture, while retaining the resilience to both resist the negative and champion the positive.

Discussion of police culture is more apt to be centered upon the negative traits than the positive, so we may as well begin with the negative. Police culture is the sum of numerous subcultures, The Blue Wall being an unfortunate byproduct. Robert Reiner, in THE POLITICS OF POLICE, talks about the strength of the culture being based upon police work being a mission and therefore anything done in pursuit of this mission is serving the greater good. He argues that this foundation makes police culture so hard to reform.

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