Is There a Police Culture
Content
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Research & Evaluation
Is There a Police Culture?
Tim Prenzler School of Justice Administration Griffith University
Recent commissions of inquiry and the growth of police studies in Australia have popuhrised the idea of a ‘police culture’. A stereotyped image has developed of police sexism, racism, secrecy, antiintellectualism, brutality, corruption, biased law enforcement and politicisation. The alleged ‘police culture’ is at odds with every fundamental ethical principle of public service. In its simplified version the concept is becoming discredited as excessively unitary and deterministic. Nonetheless, the term has utility when seen in the context o the f general idea of occupational cultures and o specific f elements of an organisation’s traditions and task environment which generate counter-productive and unethical practices. The concept also assists in focusing on managing organisational change to facilitate integrity and effective service provision.
The concept of a police culture came into prominence with the development of policing as a subject of academic study. Skolnick’s [ 19661 (1975) landmark observational study on the police officer’s ‘working personality’ distilled earlier work on the topic and initiated three decades of more intensive sociological and psychological research on policing. Academic interest was stimulated by exposes of police brutality and corruption during the social unrest of the 1960s and 1970s. Underpinning this attention to police practices was an increasing civil libertarian concern with infringements of citizens’ rights. Judicial and other government inquiries into corruption and police administration have taken up the concept as a major explanatory factor (Brown 1992). The Fitzgerald (1989) Inquiry in Queensland has been attributed with introducing the concept into common language in Australia (James and Warren 1995). In much the same terms as Fitzgerald, the report of the Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service stated that: the significance of the code of silence, which is an incontrovertible and universal product of police culture, cannot be understated. The code of silence and other negative aspects of police culture need to be vigorously addressed as part of the reform process (Wood 1997: 33). No textbook or study on policing is now complete without attention to police culture and the term has become almost axiomatic in critiques of police behaviour. At the same time, the idea has been a source of controversy involving a basic division between advocates of the uniqueness of police culture and advocates of cultural continuity with other occupations (Gaines et al. 1994).
Propositions
Terminology regarding police culture is variable and has included ‘police subculture’ (Radelet and Carter 1994), ‘cop culture’ (Reiner 1992), the ‘police code’ (Fitzgerald 1989) and the ‘working personality’ of the police (Skolnick 1975). The central thesis in this cluster of terms is that most police forces, especially in liberal democracies, are characterised by a wide gap between formal rules and informal practice. Formal dimensions - the ‘politically correct’ language of the organisation include mission statements, regulations and prescribed procedures. The informal culture
Thanks to Arch Harrison, former superintendent in the Queensland Police and now lecturer in police studies, for comments on drafts of this article.
Australian Journol of Public Adrnirhtralian
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56(4): 47-56, December, 1997
48 consists of those ‘values, norms, perspectives and craft rules’ which are the real governing principles of police work (Reiner 1992: 109). While ‘police culture’ is frequently applied to operational police, it is usually said to be tolerated, even tacitly encouraged, by those officers reaching managerial ranks (Fitzgerald 1989). Judicial and scholarly uses of the term have been almost universally pejorative. Elements of the alleged culture have been categorised in different ways by different scholars. This section presents a four-part version. 1. Disregard and disdain for rules and procedures is a key characteristic of the informal code of policing, especially in the treatment of suspects (Reiner 1992: 107). Breaches of due process are defended by police as necessary to do the job. The critics allege that the goal of ‘doing the job’ is frequently a mask for either self-interest or organisational interest. Self-interest covers things such as promotion as a result of high conviction rates by an individual officer or an easier workload through cutting red tape. Organisational interests include high clear-up rates, reduced losses of court cases, or a good public image in terms of being seen to keep the criminals off the streets. Disregard for rules includes tolerance of corruption, and use of police time and equipment for personal benefit. Misuse of position is justified as compensation for the difficulties of the job and lack of appreciation (Skolnick 1975). 2. Disregard for due process is seen as an outcome of a dominant crime control model of policing (Reiner 1992: 107). This approach relies on rapid mobile response and advanced technical equipment with a focus on apprehending offenders. Despite the weight of evidence against the effectiveness of this model for reducing crime (Kelling et al. 1983; Akers 1994), police cling to it as a justification for the traditions of the organisation. Alternative approaches to crime involving variants of community policing - such as problem-oriented policing (Goldstein 1990), preventive justice (Appier 1992) or situational crime prevention (Clarke 1992) - although always present to varying degrees in police practice, are repudiated as soft on crime, academic or not practical. Inevitably, the crime control model produces a bias away from the more difficult and socially sensitive prosecution of ruling cladwhite collar crime to the easier targets of lower class
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street crime. It produces a macho, action-oriented, culture and a paramilitary command-style management that stifles consultation, evaluation and creative problem solving. 3. Cynicism, isolation and intolerance are also characteristics central to the police culture thesis. Police are said to possess a paradoxical mixture of a powerful sense of mission to protect the public from criminals, and an intense cynicism and suspicion about the criminality, hostility or unreliability of the public (Skolnick and Fyfe 1993). Added to this is a sense of betrayal by management and the need to look after ‘number one’ in avoiding responsibility or difficult tasks. Politically, cynicism translates into right-wing, often extreme right-wing, views and intolerance of racial and sexual minorities and non-conventional lifestyles (Reiner 1992). This creates a differential enforcement of the law against minorities and those who defy police authority (Chan 1997). Criticism from civil libertarians, social workers, academics and politicians exacerbates the siege mentality. 4. An offshoot of isolation and cynicism is solidarity. This takes the form of mutual reinforcements of behaviour, and closing ranks to cover misconduct when coming under scrutiny from external agencies or from internal investigators. The recent Australian Law Reform Commission report on complaints against the Australian Federal Police and the National Crime Authority asserted that: the record of internal units is generally inadequate in terms of the effective conduct of investigations and there are excessive delays. A siege like mentality of police officers and their own culture means that there are strong risks that they will not be able to conduct thorough and fair investigations (ALRC 1995: 149). Related aspects of solidarity include persecution of whistleblowers, and recruitment which discriminated against women and ethnic minorities (Fitzgerald 1989; Reiner 1992).
Explanations
The police role or task environment is the primary explanation given for the development of the police culture (Sherman 1983; Skolnick and Fyfe 1993). One of the myths of the culture is the extreme dangerousness of police work. In fact, numerous other occupations have higher death and injury
Is There a Police Culture?
49 type from working class or lower middle class backgrounds. Training was narrowly based in law, procedures and physical skills with little regard to psychology, social context, ethics or crime prevention (Chappell and Wilson 1977; Finnane 1994). Once accepted, novices became subject to intense peer pressure to conform to the norms of the group (Fitzgerald 1989).
rates, and the main health risk to police is from a sedentary lifestyle (Swanton 1987). Nonetheless, policing is considered a high-stress occupation because it entails dealing with people in situations of conflict and stress, and because of the threat of violence: the risk lies in the unpredictable outcome of encounters with other people ... The police officer faces, behind every corner he turns or door-bell he rings, some danger, if not of firearms at least of fists (Reiner 1992: 110). Conflict and threat generate solidarity and the siege mentality ascribed to the police. The macho culture and lack of adequate human resource management drive officers to find stress release in mateship and hard drinking (Finnane 1994). Aside from danger and stress, authority and discretion are two crucial elements of the police work environment. Police powers are more limited than the television image suggests. For example, police in Australia cannot require a person’s name and address, cannot detain or search people, or enter and search premises except in relation to specific crimes or with judicial authorisation. In the last few decades police also have been subject to greater external oversight. Nonetheless, public deference to police, and the fact that police are employed, trained and equipped to enforce the law, gives them substantial power over citizens. Increased oversight cannot reduce significantly officers’ discretion in the zeal with which evidence is sought or in the prioritising of work (Pollock 1994). This creates the potential for bias, which means that unofficial agendas can predominate about which categories of people receive police attention whether as offenders or as victims of crime. Criteria for measuring organisational success are part of the task environment, and in the crime control model success is usually gauged by conviction and clear-up rates (Skolnick 1975). In that regard, there is public support for the idea that police need to break the law to enforce the law (CJC 1995a) and public attitudes toward offenders tend to be punitive (Kissane 1993). In the police culture thesis, the effect of the task environment on police is reinforced through occupational socialisation. Traditional recruitment, training and promotion practices contributed to the creation of homogeneity and insularity. For most of their history, police agencies recruited a young white Anglo-Celtic poorly educated male athletic
Evaluation
Diversity
Populist notions of a police culture now tend to be regarded as exaggerating the homogeneity of police forces. Rivalries between police can be intense, motivated by competition for promotion, resource conflicts and different specialisations. Reiner and others acknowledge there is probably an overriding tendency to close ranks when outside threats intensify. Nonetheless, important divisions exist between management and operational police, between detectives and patrol officers, and between these two groups and the more welfare-oriented groups such as juvenile aid bureaux, child abuse and sexual offences squads, and community policing squads. In her observational study of the NYPD, Reuss-Ianni (1993) identified an evolution away from a unitary ethos into two antagonistic cultures. The modern ‘management cop culture’ was characterised - at least ostensibly - by a preoccupation with scientific rationality, due process accountability and multicultural sensitivity, but was bureaucratically remote. The ‘street cop culture’ valued mutuality, ethnic homogeneity, discretionary policing and receipt of gratuities, and rejected external accountability. There is also evidence of significant variability in styles of policing between different agencies. Wilson (1968) described ‘watchman’, ‘service’ and ‘legalistic’ styles which varied in prominence in the eight communities he studied, and which developed as a result of complex and changing interactions between communities, police administrators, and local and state governments. Skolnick (1975) identified lower levels of danger as a crucial factor in British police officers’ greater compliance with the law vis-d-vis their American counterparts - although this may have changed in the 1980s when police in England took a more politically repressive role. Within the one police department, differences can occur as a result of local
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than older police, and attributed this to the younger officers’ current experience in direct contact with the public, mainly in ghetto areas. Studies comparing police with social workers have tended to show police as more punitive, more likely to place moral responsibility on offenders, and less committed to rehabilitation (Wilk and McCarthy 1986; Saunders 1988; Kelley 1990; Trute et al. 1992; see also Wheeler et al. 1968). One study found police took child abuse less seriously and had a more stereotyped view of offenders. Controlling for gender indicated that the male domination of policing and female domination of social work bore significantly on these differences, but professional role remained a probable influential factor (Trute et al. 1992: 366; also Saunders 1988). A similar result was found in Home’s (1994) study of police and social worker attitudes to domestic violence. Home related her findings to studies suggesting that social workers’ attitudes had changed in favour of a more interventionist approach as a result of more intensive training in this area. Trojanowicz’s (1971) study of police and social workers found police were not unusually defensive, although younger officers rated as more aggressive. He also found police preferred a more structured and authoritarian work environment. This was contradicted to some extent by Lefkowitz’s (1974) finding that police were frustrated by a perceived lack of autonomy and self-fulfilment in their work. Overall, there are some indications from comparative studies that police lack progressive or scientific views on crime-related social problems compared to other professionals working in the same areas. For instance, in looking at the interaction between police, probation officers and judges in responding to delinquency, and while noting the police tendency towards punitiveness, Wheeler et al. (1968: 59) observed that ‘what seems striking here is the degree to which the police may be insulated within a police culture’. However, police culture may be something not confined to the blue-coated variety of police. A study of ‘game wardens and city cops’ (Palmer 1980) found very similar attitudes between the two groups regarding enforcing the law and real police work, suggesting that a wider concept of a law enforcement role may be applicable in accounting for these similarities. It should also be noted that the major
conditions and the different approaches adopted by regional or station management (Brown and Willis 1985; Wortley and Home1 1995). Many writers on police misconduct qualify their criticisms by noting there are numerous honest and conscientious police who limit conformity to the stereotype. Indeed, numerous exposures of police corruption have been triggered or assisted by police whistleblowers (Sherman 1983; Fitzgerald 1989; Wood 1997). Unfortunately, the use of the generic term ‘police’ creates an unwarranted image of uniformity and pervasive misconduct. James and Warren (1995) argue that if police misconduct is treated as a product of police culture then police propriety might also be explained within the same process. Police recognition of the concept has been strongly qualified by reference to positive aspects primarily mutual support in danger and stress and the need to develop these aspects into a more productive culture - rather than entirely demolishing police culture (eg Bolen 1990).
Occupational Cultures
Numerous studies on police culture are flawed by the absence of control groups (eg Niederhoffer 1967). Unique qualities are generalised from the traits observed by researchers. Where comparisons are made it is often difficult to make consistent and adverse distinctions between police attitudes and general community attitudes. The limited literature comparing police and other occupations shows mixed results. Comparisons between general college students and police college students, for example, have shown no differences in punitiveness or authoritarianism - although there was possibly a problem of self-selection in the police samples (Smith et al. 1968; Guller 1972; McCormick et al. 1985). On the question of antiintellectualism, one study showed that police and college students shared similar views on the value of education. Age and length of education were the main determinants of favourable attitudes in both groups (O’Neill et al. 1972). Lefkowitz surveyed police attitudes and compared the results with those from previous surveys of other occupations (1974, 1977). Police appeared to be average in terms of cynicism and dogmatism, with a slight anti-Negro bias (1974: 225). Lefkowitz found that the younger police he studied were more cynical and racially prejudiced
Is There a Police Culture?
51 for creating the police culture, ministerial and parliamentary neglect of police personnel issues allows the culture to perpetuate itself (Fitzgerald 1989). Because police work is a public sector function, ultimate responsibility must lie with government. Police independence from oversight was fostered in part by the idea of operational independence serving as a buffer against politicisation. But this has also been a major source of protection of misconduct (Grabosky 1989; Finnane 1994). Politicians also role-model behaviour. In Queensland, in the post-Fitzgerald period, government concessions to the law-andorder alarm sounded by the opposition, weak freedom of information legislation, and abuse of expense accounts by politicians from all parties have done little to lead from the top in pursuit of goals of community policing, openness and probity (Prenzler 1997).
Despite arguments for a lack of distinctiveness about police values and behaviour, there is some evidence that police attitudes and practices are at times out of step with community values, and there is certainly strong evidence that many police attitudes and practices are directly at odds with departmentai goals and codes of conduct developed through democratic processes (Sigler and Dees Political Context 1988; Barker, 1991; Miller and Braswell 1992; Pollock 1994; Prenzler and Mackay 1995). The simplified populist model of police culture tends also to ignore the political context of Recruits frequently enter policing with a strong policing. Policing should be seen as the creation attachment to official goals. That commitment is of its political masters. Low recruitment standards, rapidly eroded as the officer becomes absorbed into for example, have served to conveniently limit the organisation, and the erosion of values often begins during academy training (Niederhoffer 1969; police budgets. Isolation has been Ellis 1991). the price to be paid for Peel, Rowan and The deterioration of police trainees’ values is Mayne’s policy of elevating the British police well established, and it is logical to conclude that as symbols of impersonal authority, and was to this is the effect of occupational socialisation. an extent a direct product of recruitment policies Apparent socialisation may, however, be aimed at severing officers from their local confounded by the task environment. Changes in communities (Reiner 1992: 116). attitude may be a direct result of experience with Police paramilitary organisation and conservatism crime, criminals or hostile groups, rather than from have also served the state’s need for a force to experience with other police. There is evidence for repress organised labour and dissent (Reiner 1992). the role of outgroup interaction in changing police Similarly, it is arguably the politicisation of crime attitudes, although the nature of the interaction - where opposition and government politicians between task environment and occupational seek to capitalise on a law-and-order platform - socialisation has not yet been fully mapped out which forces police to adopt a get tough approach. (Brown and Willis 1985; Skolnick and Fyfe 1993; Even if politicians are not responsible directly Wortley and Home1 1995).
professions of medicine and law have been repeatedly accused of practices characteristic of the alleged police culture - such as secrecy, protection of colleagues, resistance to outside scrutiny, and stereotyping of and discrimination against troublesome clients (Pollock 1994; Radelet and Carter 1994). Similarly, there is a growing recognition of unethical behaviour in most public and private sector organisations (Grabosky 1989; Baron and Greenberg 1990). Complaints made to new oversight bodies in Australia, such as the Criminal Justice Commission in Queensland and the Independent Commission Against Corruption in New South Wales, show that problems of misconduct and corruption are not unique to policing but can occur anywhere in public service departments. These cases are merely instances of the well-established principle in political science of the power of the public service to subvert government policy and public service guidelines. From the point of view of conflict or interactionist criminology, adverse attention to the culture of policing is continuous with the traditional neglect of upper class white collar crime over lower class street crime. In this case, the para-professionals the police ‘on the street’ are focused on in default of misconduct and lack of accountability among more elite groups.
Emphasising the Task Environment
52 Regardless of ambiguity surrounding the influence of different aspects of the policing context, a primary element contributing to police deviation from due process is the rigours of the adversarial system. Poorly trained police face defence lawyers skilled in legal technicalities and the arts of persuasion. Gathering evidence in many types of crime is often extremely difficult given the absence of witnesses, or the unwillingness or unreliability of witnesses. It is a common complaint of police that their hard work in capturing criminals is undone by light sentences. Given community support for this view, it is little wonder police feel justified in taking the law into their own hands (Skolnick 1975).
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interaction of the police with the public in situations of conflict and venality (Sherman 1983; Brown 1992) - situations riven by ‘desperately conflicting imperatives’ (Skolnick and Fyfe 1993: 112). In comparing complaints against police and other public sector agencies, it is significant that in Queensland approximately 75 per cent of complaints made to the Criminal Justice Commission concern police (CJC 1995b). In New South Wales, the magnitude of the corruption problem resulted in a Wood Commission recommendation for a powerful oversight body exclusive to police - the Police Integrity Commission (Prenzler et al. 1996). The term police culture therefore has utility in describing problems identified in police behaviour Is There a Police Culture? (police subculture or traditional police culture are There is sufficient evidence from research and probably more accurate terms). The role of culture inquiries to conclude that police services have been in policing is part of the larger issue of causality of characterised by many of the undesirable qualities social phenomena. Much of the writing on police captured by the term police culture. Secrecy, culture is now seen as simplistic, with a tendency, isolation, discrimination and abuse of powers have despite attention to the task environment, to slip been common police characteristics in many into cultural determinism. Police culture countries (Wagner and Decker 1989). Nonetheless, informal codes and traditions - is too often it would seem that an unjustifiable and misleading ‘treated synonymously as the cause and effect of stereotype has been created out of the literature on police misbehaviour’ (James and Warren 1995: 3). police culture. Police forces are probably not as However, whether alternative explanations homogenous as has been assumed. Occupational emphasise situational aspects of the work socialisation is not necessarily the major source of environment (Brown and Willis 1985; Wortley and undesirable police practices, and police are probably Home1 1995) or stress individual factors in not as unique from other occupations as has been compliance (Shearing and Ericson 1991; James and Warren 1995), the critiques leave some space for a contended. Commonalities between organisational generalisable police agency in cultural reprocultures, and differences between groups and duction. In particular, culture serves a rationalising individuals in organisations, are recognised in and reinforcing function (Grabosky 1989). In the organisational theory; but so too is the fact that political context, for example, police have been organisations can develop distinctive characteristics actively involved in perpetuating the crime control and that employees will adapt to the culture of their model by promoting it to politicians and the workplace (Baron and Greenberg 1990; Hodgetts public, and mythologising physical conflict 1991). There are some core features of police (Reiner 1992). Senior police have also at times agencies which are apparent across time and across been adept at manipulating the political jurisdictions. Many of these characteristics are environment to obtain autonomy which then served evident i n other public and private sector their self-interest (Sherman 1983). Police hostility toward their client group is no organisations, but it is also apparent that some of these elements have been particularly intense and doubt the product of social inequalities that pervasive in policing. Skolnick and Fyfe maintain structure police and disadvantaged groups into that the police code of silence, for example, ‘is an antagonistic roles (Reiner 1992). Nonetheless, extreme version of a phenomenon that exists in all police are expected to behave professionally with human groups’ (1993: 112; see also Gaines et al. moderation and with respect for civil liberties. 1994; Finnane 1994). This appears to be primarily While many critics have exaggerated the cultural attributable to the more intense and direct autonomy of police, some scope must remain for
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police to take responsibility for the type of force Knapp NYCPD has been held up as a showcase of they create. Here Reiner identifies an inescapable reform. Subsequent complacency and a changing paradox: while police ‘may not be m o r e external environment - i n particular the authoritarian than the general population, the proliferation of the illegal drug trade - allowed “normal” degree of authoritarianism is disturbing in corruption to re-occur (Mollen 1994). It has been an occupation which wields considerable power argued nonetheless that the continued presence of the anti-corruption infrastructure kept corruption at over minorities’ (1992: 127). significantly reduced levels in the 1980s and 1990s, and allowed eventual identification and elimination Policy Implications of corruption pockets (Henry 1994). The key implication of the above analysis is that Law enforcement is the primary factor here. changes are needed to the traditional police culture. Perceptions of the likelihood of punishment can be But change will be particularly difficult given the relatively effective in controlling organisational apparent impact of the task environment. The crime where staff risk status and income (Grabosky environment can be changed to some extent (by 1989), and police appear to be in this category. rescinding unenforceable laws for example) but Tightened regulations and enforcement change the changing the confrontational nature of police work culture by removing some of the permissiveness will be extremely difficult given that involvement that allows unacceptable elements of the culture to with crime, criminals and social unrest is the develop (elements such as assaults, personal jobs police role. Police therefore need to be made more or graft). Surveillance and enforcement break down resistant to the influence of the task environment. the protective and nurturing solidarity of the The discipline of organisational behaviour organisation by creating a functional divisiveness shows that work cultures can be changed from low (Henry 1994: 167). productivity and cynicism to high productivity and commitment independently of changes to the Management and Education external environment (Hodgetts 1991). However, the history of police subversion of reform cautions Critics of legal-bureaucratic models of reform against optimism about substantial and permanent identify several problems. Change may, to some The presence of an change (Henry 1994). Reform will be subject to a extent, be illusory. enforcement bureaucracy and the scapegoating of conflict between structural and cultural factors and a time lag between changes to structures and changes some officers may only create an appearance of to culture (Hodgetts 1991; Brown 1992). Policing discipline and drive misconduct underground. The can be described as a ‘stability-oriented basic nature of police work remains one of (homeostatic)’ culture particularly resistant to unsupervised encounters between operational police change (Baron and Greenberg 1990: 299); and and citizens where the detection of misconduct is resistance by the rank-and-file and management is extremely difficult (Elliston and Feldberg 1984). likely to be compounded by the imposition of There is also some evidence that a disciplinary reform from without - as is usually the case with regime may increase the police sense of persecution, further alienate the police from the police following corruption scandals. public, and inhibit police in effective discretionary peace keeping (Bracey 1989; Sykes 1989). Laws and Procedures Moreover, effective law enforcement requires zeal The debate over effective reform tends to divide and competence on the part of the enforcers (Doig between models of structural change and models of et al. 1984). Arguably, zeal and competency are cultural change. The best-known example of aspects of culture. internal structural reform is in the New York City Many police scholars hold to a softer line on Police following the Knapp Commission of change, emphasising the necessity of supInquiry in the early 1970s. The Knapp reforms plementing enforcement strategies with a wider focused on the extensive application of deterrence- range of measures grounded in personnel based strategies including integrity testing, the use management. In this model, effective reform of informants and a dedicated investigative internal depends less on fear than on the more desirable affairs department (Knapp et al. 1972). The post- attributes of collegiality, role modelling and
54 personal attachment to corporate goals. This approach is designed to win over staff through established good practice in communication and creation of job satisfaction (Baron and Greenberg 1990; Jans and Frazer-Jans 1991). A combination of background law enforcement and foregrounded positive reinforcement - ‘a good balance of pride and fear’ (Sherman 1983: 375) - is most likely to be successful to create a normative order congruent with corporate goals (Hodgetts 1991: 105-7,438). Cultural change is best achieved by eclectic means, as is the case with corruption prevention and crime reduction (Sherman 1983). The responsibility of managers for employees’ behaviour can be legislated (Doig er al. 1984), thus contributing to a cycle of reinforcements in which corporate goals include legitimate means for achieving corporate goals (Grabosky 1989). In this context, a focus on managing culture must include the process of monitoring behaviour and adjustment of behavioural modification strategies (Hodgetts 1991). Commitment by management appears to be a crucial ingredient i n change (Mar& 1990), but equally so is communication between management and staff because alienation between the two groups can easily subvert reform. Hypocrisy in messages is a major source of employee dissatisfaction and cynicism (Baron and Greenberg 1990). Resistance to reform can be mitigated by consultative and supportive strategies which themselves model many of the qualities sought in cultural change. Studies of police policy implementation show major deficiencies in communication (Hyams 1990; Carter and Barker 1991). Appropriate behaviour needs to be developed through normal learning processes of modelling and reinforcement, because rational bias operates whereby lower level decision-makers act on de fact0 cues from their superiors about which decisions are favoured and likely to be rewarded (Martin 1990: 92). Recruitment and training have at times been overestimated as sources of change. Nonetheless, there is evidence that academy cumcula can make a difference in liberalising recruits’ attitudes positive change can be overwhelmed by subsequent experience (Brown and willis 1985; Wortley and Hornel 1995). in training therefore need to extend Well beyond the academy and take up the principle of lifelong education to maintain official values as core
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elements of in-service training. Studies comparing the attitudes of recruits and serving officers show that police have been good at selecting trainees who hold to the formal values of the organisation (eg Ellis 1991). A primary task then is to maintain that commitment by in-service measures. Changing recruitment patterns from the 1980s appear to be slowly breaking down the relative homogeneity of the traditional police force (Bahn 1984; Henry 1994), and it appears that altered selection criteria can have a differential effect (Fitzgerald 1989; Sechrest and Burns 1992). Female recruits tend to be less ethnocentric and authoritarian than males, and recruits from ethnic minorities tend to be less ethnocentric. Both groups appear to be relatively less susceptible to enculturation than their white male colleagues (Wortley and Home1 1995). Higher education also has a liberalising effect that is relatively resistant to occupational socialisation and the task environment (Carter er al. 1989).
COnClUSiOn
The uniqueness and uniformity of the police working personality has been exaggerated in some accounts. At the same time, there are identifiable problems in police work which relate to the term police culture. These problems may be more marked in many police services than in other organisations. It is certainly the case that change is needed in the traditional police culture (as is change in the culture of many occupations). In policing, entrenched practices and peer pressure mean that at least a generation of change may be required before old-guard values are replaced. A mix of structurally oriented and culturally oriented innovations is needed to create reform while maintaining morale. The development of systematic enforcement procedures is needed, alongside human resource strategies which generate the highest possible ethical standards throughout the organisation. REFERENCES Akers, R 1994. Criminological Theories, Roxbury,
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in Policing, Police Foundation, Washington DC. Miller, L & M Braswell 1992. ‘Police Perceptions of Ethical Decision-making: The Ideal vs the Real’, American Journal of Police XI(4). Mollen, M 1994. Commission Report, City of New York, New York. Niederhoffer, A 1967. Behind the Shield: The Police in Urban Society, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York. O’Neill, E, W Stovall & C Lloyd 1972. ‘Police vs. College Students - Attitudes Toward Education’, Police 16(5). Palmer, C 1980. Police Work: A Comparison of Game Wardens and City Cops, Southwestern Sociological Association, Texas Technical University, Lubbock. Pollock, J 1994. Ethics in Crime and Justice: Dilemmas and Decisions, Wadsworth, Belmont, CA. Prenzler, T 1997. ‘The Decay of Reform: Police and Politics in Post-Fitzgerald Queensland’, Queensland Review 4(2). Prenzler, T, A Harrison & A Ede 1996. ‘The Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service: Implications for Reform’, Current Afairs Bulletin 72(6). Prenzler, T & P Mackay 1995. ‘Police Gratuities: What the Public Think’, Criminal Justice Ethics 14(1). Radelet, L & D Carter 1994. The Police and the Community, Macmillan, New York. Reiner, R 1992. The Politics of the Police, Harvester Wheatsheaf, New York. Reuss-Ianni, E 1993. The Two Cultures of Policing: Street Cops and Management Cops, Transaction Books, New Brunswick, NJ. Saunders, E 1988. ‘A Comparative Study of Attitudes Toward Child Sexual Abuse among Social Work and Judicial System Professionals’, Child Abuse and Neglect No, 12. Sechrest, D & P Burns 1992. ‘Police and Corruption: The Miami Case’, Criminal Law and Behavior 19(3). Shearing, C & R Ericson 1991. ‘Culture as Figurative Action’, British Journal of Sociology No. 42. Sherman, L 1983. ‘Scandal and Reform’, in C Klockars (ed.), Thinking About Police: Contemporary Readings, McGraw-Hill, New York. Sigler, R & T Dees 1988. ‘Public Perception of Petty Corruption in Law Enforcement’, Journal o Police f
Prenzler Science and Administration 16( 1). Skolnick, J [1966] 1975. Justice Without Trial, Macmillan, New York. Skolnick, J & J Fyfe 1993. Above the Law: Police and Excessive Use o Force, The Free Press, New f York. Smith, A, B Locke & W Walker 1968. ‘Authoritarianism in Police College Students and Non-police College Students’, Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science No. 49. Swanton, B 1987. Police Work and its Health Impacts, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra. Sykes, G 1989. ‘The Functional Nature of Police Reform: The “Myth” of Controlling the Police’, in R Dunham & G Alpert (eds), Critical Issues in Policing: Contemporary Readings, Waveland, Prospect Heights, IL. Trojanowicz, R 1971. ‘The Policeman’s Occupational Personality’, Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science 62(4). Trute, B, E Adkins & G MacDonald 1992. ‘Professional Attitudes Regarding the Sexual Abuse of Children: Comparing Police, Child Welfare and Community Mental Health’, Child Abuse and Neglect No. 16. Wagner, A & S Decker 1989. ‘Evaluating Citizen Complaints Against the Police’, in R Dunham & G Alpert (eds), Critical Issues in Policing: Contemporary Readings, Waveland, Prospect Heights, IL. Wheeler, S, E Bonacich, M Cramer & I Zola 1968. ‘Agents of Delinquency Control: A Comparative Analysis’, in S Wheeler (ed.), C o n t r o l l i n g Delinquents, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Wilk, R & C McCarthy 1986. ‘Intervention in Child Sexual Abuse: A Survey of Attitudes’, Social Casework: The Journal of Contemporary Social Work, January. Wilson, J 1968. Varieties of Police Behavior, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Wood, J 1997. Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service, Final Report, Volume 1: Corruption. Government of the State of NSW, Sydney. Wortley, R & R Home1 1995. ‘Police Prejudice as a Function of Training and Outgroup Contact: A Longitudinal Investigation’, Law and Human Behaviour 19(3).
Research & Evaluation
Is There a Police Culture?
Tim Prenzler School of Justice Administration Griffith University
Recent commissions of inquiry and the growth of police studies in Australia have popuhrised the idea of a ‘police culture’. A stereotyped image has developed of police sexism, racism, secrecy, antiintellectualism, brutality, corruption, biased law enforcement and politicisation. The alleged ‘police culture’ is at odds with every fundamental ethical principle of public service. In its simplified version the concept is becoming discredited as excessively unitary and deterministic. Nonetheless, the term has utility when seen in the context o the f general idea of occupational cultures and o specific f elements of an organisation’s traditions and task environment which generate counter-productive and unethical practices. The concept also assists in focusing on managing organisational change to facilitate integrity and effective service provision.
The concept of a police culture came into prominence with the development of policing as a subject of academic study. Skolnick’s [ 19661 (1975) landmark observational study on the police officer’s ‘working personality’ distilled earlier work on the topic and initiated three decades of more intensive sociological and psychological research on policing. Academic interest was stimulated by exposes of police brutality and corruption during the social unrest of the 1960s and 1970s. Underpinning this attention to police practices was an increasing civil libertarian concern with infringements of citizens’ rights. Judicial and other government inquiries into corruption and police administration have taken up the concept as a major explanatory factor (Brown 1992). The Fitzgerald (1989) Inquiry in Queensland has been attributed with introducing the concept into common language in Australia (James and Warren 1995). In much the same terms as Fitzgerald, the report of the Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service stated that: the significance of the code of silence, which is an incontrovertible and universal product of police culture, cannot be understated. The code of silence and other negative aspects of police culture need to be vigorously addressed as part of the reform process (Wood 1997: 33). No textbook or study on policing is now complete without attention to police culture and the term has become almost axiomatic in critiques of police behaviour. At the same time, the idea has been a source of controversy involving a basic division between advocates of the uniqueness of police culture and advocates of cultural continuity with other occupations (Gaines et al. 1994).
Propositions
Terminology regarding police culture is variable and has included ‘police subculture’ (Radelet and Carter 1994), ‘cop culture’ (Reiner 1992), the ‘police code’ (Fitzgerald 1989) and the ‘working personality’ of the police (Skolnick 1975). The central thesis in this cluster of terms is that most police forces, especially in liberal democracies, are characterised by a wide gap between formal rules and informal practice. Formal dimensions - the ‘politically correct’ language of the organisation include mission statements, regulations and prescribed procedures. The informal culture
Thanks to Arch Harrison, former superintendent in the Queensland Police and now lecturer in police studies, for comments on drafts of this article.
Australian Journol of Public Adrnirhtralian
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56(4): 47-56, December, 1997
48 consists of those ‘values, norms, perspectives and craft rules’ which are the real governing principles of police work (Reiner 1992: 109). While ‘police culture’ is frequently applied to operational police, it is usually said to be tolerated, even tacitly encouraged, by those officers reaching managerial ranks (Fitzgerald 1989). Judicial and scholarly uses of the term have been almost universally pejorative. Elements of the alleged culture have been categorised in different ways by different scholars. This section presents a four-part version. 1. Disregard and disdain for rules and procedures is a key characteristic of the informal code of policing, especially in the treatment of suspects (Reiner 1992: 107). Breaches of due process are defended by police as necessary to do the job. The critics allege that the goal of ‘doing the job’ is frequently a mask for either self-interest or organisational interest. Self-interest covers things such as promotion as a result of high conviction rates by an individual officer or an easier workload through cutting red tape. Organisational interests include high clear-up rates, reduced losses of court cases, or a good public image in terms of being seen to keep the criminals off the streets. Disregard for rules includes tolerance of corruption, and use of police time and equipment for personal benefit. Misuse of position is justified as compensation for the difficulties of the job and lack of appreciation (Skolnick 1975). 2. Disregard for due process is seen as an outcome of a dominant crime control model of policing (Reiner 1992: 107). This approach relies on rapid mobile response and advanced technical equipment with a focus on apprehending offenders. Despite the weight of evidence against the effectiveness of this model for reducing crime (Kelling et al. 1983; Akers 1994), police cling to it as a justification for the traditions of the organisation. Alternative approaches to crime involving variants of community policing - such as problem-oriented policing (Goldstein 1990), preventive justice (Appier 1992) or situational crime prevention (Clarke 1992) - although always present to varying degrees in police practice, are repudiated as soft on crime, academic or not practical. Inevitably, the crime control model produces a bias away from the more difficult and socially sensitive prosecution of ruling cladwhite collar crime to the easier targets of lower class
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street crime. It produces a macho, action-oriented, culture and a paramilitary command-style management that stifles consultation, evaluation and creative problem solving. 3. Cynicism, isolation and intolerance are also characteristics central to the police culture thesis. Police are said to possess a paradoxical mixture of a powerful sense of mission to protect the public from criminals, and an intense cynicism and suspicion about the criminality, hostility or unreliability of the public (Skolnick and Fyfe 1993). Added to this is a sense of betrayal by management and the need to look after ‘number one’ in avoiding responsibility or difficult tasks. Politically, cynicism translates into right-wing, often extreme right-wing, views and intolerance of racial and sexual minorities and non-conventional lifestyles (Reiner 1992). This creates a differential enforcement of the law against minorities and those who defy police authority (Chan 1997). Criticism from civil libertarians, social workers, academics and politicians exacerbates the siege mentality. 4. An offshoot of isolation and cynicism is solidarity. This takes the form of mutual reinforcements of behaviour, and closing ranks to cover misconduct when coming under scrutiny from external agencies or from internal investigators. The recent Australian Law Reform Commission report on complaints against the Australian Federal Police and the National Crime Authority asserted that: the record of internal units is generally inadequate in terms of the effective conduct of investigations and there are excessive delays. A siege like mentality of police officers and their own culture means that there are strong risks that they will not be able to conduct thorough and fair investigations (ALRC 1995: 149). Related aspects of solidarity include persecution of whistleblowers, and recruitment which discriminated against women and ethnic minorities (Fitzgerald 1989; Reiner 1992).
Explanations
The police role or task environment is the primary explanation given for the development of the police culture (Sherman 1983; Skolnick and Fyfe 1993). One of the myths of the culture is the extreme dangerousness of police work. In fact, numerous other occupations have higher death and injury
Is There a Police Culture?
49 type from working class or lower middle class backgrounds. Training was narrowly based in law, procedures and physical skills with little regard to psychology, social context, ethics or crime prevention (Chappell and Wilson 1977; Finnane 1994). Once accepted, novices became subject to intense peer pressure to conform to the norms of the group (Fitzgerald 1989).
rates, and the main health risk to police is from a sedentary lifestyle (Swanton 1987). Nonetheless, policing is considered a high-stress occupation because it entails dealing with people in situations of conflict and stress, and because of the threat of violence: the risk lies in the unpredictable outcome of encounters with other people ... The police officer faces, behind every corner he turns or door-bell he rings, some danger, if not of firearms at least of fists (Reiner 1992: 110). Conflict and threat generate solidarity and the siege mentality ascribed to the police. The macho culture and lack of adequate human resource management drive officers to find stress release in mateship and hard drinking (Finnane 1994). Aside from danger and stress, authority and discretion are two crucial elements of the police work environment. Police powers are more limited than the television image suggests. For example, police in Australia cannot require a person’s name and address, cannot detain or search people, or enter and search premises except in relation to specific crimes or with judicial authorisation. In the last few decades police also have been subject to greater external oversight. Nonetheless, public deference to police, and the fact that police are employed, trained and equipped to enforce the law, gives them substantial power over citizens. Increased oversight cannot reduce significantly officers’ discretion in the zeal with which evidence is sought or in the prioritising of work (Pollock 1994). This creates the potential for bias, which means that unofficial agendas can predominate about which categories of people receive police attention whether as offenders or as victims of crime. Criteria for measuring organisational success are part of the task environment, and in the crime control model success is usually gauged by conviction and clear-up rates (Skolnick 1975). In that regard, there is public support for the idea that police need to break the law to enforce the law (CJC 1995a) and public attitudes toward offenders tend to be punitive (Kissane 1993). In the police culture thesis, the effect of the task environment on police is reinforced through occupational socialisation. Traditional recruitment, training and promotion practices contributed to the creation of homogeneity and insularity. For most of their history, police agencies recruited a young white Anglo-Celtic poorly educated male athletic
Evaluation
Diversity
Populist notions of a police culture now tend to be regarded as exaggerating the homogeneity of police forces. Rivalries between police can be intense, motivated by competition for promotion, resource conflicts and different specialisations. Reiner and others acknowledge there is probably an overriding tendency to close ranks when outside threats intensify. Nonetheless, important divisions exist between management and operational police, between detectives and patrol officers, and between these two groups and the more welfare-oriented groups such as juvenile aid bureaux, child abuse and sexual offences squads, and community policing squads. In her observational study of the NYPD, Reuss-Ianni (1993) identified an evolution away from a unitary ethos into two antagonistic cultures. The modern ‘management cop culture’ was characterised - at least ostensibly - by a preoccupation with scientific rationality, due process accountability and multicultural sensitivity, but was bureaucratically remote. The ‘street cop culture’ valued mutuality, ethnic homogeneity, discretionary policing and receipt of gratuities, and rejected external accountability. There is also evidence of significant variability in styles of policing between different agencies. Wilson (1968) described ‘watchman’, ‘service’ and ‘legalistic’ styles which varied in prominence in the eight communities he studied, and which developed as a result of complex and changing interactions between communities, police administrators, and local and state governments. Skolnick (1975) identified lower levels of danger as a crucial factor in British police officers’ greater compliance with the law vis-d-vis their American counterparts - although this may have changed in the 1980s when police in England took a more politically repressive role. Within the one police department, differences can occur as a result of local
50
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than older police, and attributed this to the younger officers’ current experience in direct contact with the public, mainly in ghetto areas. Studies comparing police with social workers have tended to show police as more punitive, more likely to place moral responsibility on offenders, and less committed to rehabilitation (Wilk and McCarthy 1986; Saunders 1988; Kelley 1990; Trute et al. 1992; see also Wheeler et al. 1968). One study found police took child abuse less seriously and had a more stereotyped view of offenders. Controlling for gender indicated that the male domination of policing and female domination of social work bore significantly on these differences, but professional role remained a probable influential factor (Trute et al. 1992: 366; also Saunders 1988). A similar result was found in Home’s (1994) study of police and social worker attitudes to domestic violence. Home related her findings to studies suggesting that social workers’ attitudes had changed in favour of a more interventionist approach as a result of more intensive training in this area. Trojanowicz’s (1971) study of police and social workers found police were not unusually defensive, although younger officers rated as more aggressive. He also found police preferred a more structured and authoritarian work environment. This was contradicted to some extent by Lefkowitz’s (1974) finding that police were frustrated by a perceived lack of autonomy and self-fulfilment in their work. Overall, there are some indications from comparative studies that police lack progressive or scientific views on crime-related social problems compared to other professionals working in the same areas. For instance, in looking at the interaction between police, probation officers and judges in responding to delinquency, and while noting the police tendency towards punitiveness, Wheeler et al. (1968: 59) observed that ‘what seems striking here is the degree to which the police may be insulated within a police culture’. However, police culture may be something not confined to the blue-coated variety of police. A study of ‘game wardens and city cops’ (Palmer 1980) found very similar attitudes between the two groups regarding enforcing the law and real police work, suggesting that a wider concept of a law enforcement role may be applicable in accounting for these similarities. It should also be noted that the major
conditions and the different approaches adopted by regional or station management (Brown and Willis 1985; Wortley and Home1 1995). Many writers on police misconduct qualify their criticisms by noting there are numerous honest and conscientious police who limit conformity to the stereotype. Indeed, numerous exposures of police corruption have been triggered or assisted by police whistleblowers (Sherman 1983; Fitzgerald 1989; Wood 1997). Unfortunately, the use of the generic term ‘police’ creates an unwarranted image of uniformity and pervasive misconduct. James and Warren (1995) argue that if police misconduct is treated as a product of police culture then police propriety might also be explained within the same process. Police recognition of the concept has been strongly qualified by reference to positive aspects primarily mutual support in danger and stress and the need to develop these aspects into a more productive culture - rather than entirely demolishing police culture (eg Bolen 1990).
Occupational Cultures
Numerous studies on police culture are flawed by the absence of control groups (eg Niederhoffer 1967). Unique qualities are generalised from the traits observed by researchers. Where comparisons are made it is often difficult to make consistent and adverse distinctions between police attitudes and general community attitudes. The limited literature comparing police and other occupations shows mixed results. Comparisons between general college students and police college students, for example, have shown no differences in punitiveness or authoritarianism - although there was possibly a problem of self-selection in the police samples (Smith et al. 1968; Guller 1972; McCormick et al. 1985). On the question of antiintellectualism, one study showed that police and college students shared similar views on the value of education. Age and length of education were the main determinants of favourable attitudes in both groups (O’Neill et al. 1972). Lefkowitz surveyed police attitudes and compared the results with those from previous surveys of other occupations (1974, 1977). Police appeared to be average in terms of cynicism and dogmatism, with a slight anti-Negro bias (1974: 225). Lefkowitz found that the younger police he studied were more cynical and racially prejudiced
Is There a Police Culture?
51 for creating the police culture, ministerial and parliamentary neglect of police personnel issues allows the culture to perpetuate itself (Fitzgerald 1989). Because police work is a public sector function, ultimate responsibility must lie with government. Police independence from oversight was fostered in part by the idea of operational independence serving as a buffer against politicisation. But this has also been a major source of protection of misconduct (Grabosky 1989; Finnane 1994). Politicians also role-model behaviour. In Queensland, in the post-Fitzgerald period, government concessions to the law-andorder alarm sounded by the opposition, weak freedom of information legislation, and abuse of expense accounts by politicians from all parties have done little to lead from the top in pursuit of goals of community policing, openness and probity (Prenzler 1997).
Despite arguments for a lack of distinctiveness about police values and behaviour, there is some evidence that police attitudes and practices are at times out of step with community values, and there is certainly strong evidence that many police attitudes and practices are directly at odds with departmentai goals and codes of conduct developed through democratic processes (Sigler and Dees Political Context 1988; Barker, 1991; Miller and Braswell 1992; Pollock 1994; Prenzler and Mackay 1995). The simplified populist model of police culture tends also to ignore the political context of Recruits frequently enter policing with a strong policing. Policing should be seen as the creation attachment to official goals. That commitment is of its political masters. Low recruitment standards, rapidly eroded as the officer becomes absorbed into for example, have served to conveniently limit the organisation, and the erosion of values often begins during academy training (Niederhoffer 1969; police budgets. Isolation has been Ellis 1991). the price to be paid for Peel, Rowan and The deterioration of police trainees’ values is Mayne’s policy of elevating the British police well established, and it is logical to conclude that as symbols of impersonal authority, and was to this is the effect of occupational socialisation. an extent a direct product of recruitment policies Apparent socialisation may, however, be aimed at severing officers from their local confounded by the task environment. Changes in communities (Reiner 1992: 116). attitude may be a direct result of experience with Police paramilitary organisation and conservatism crime, criminals or hostile groups, rather than from have also served the state’s need for a force to experience with other police. There is evidence for repress organised labour and dissent (Reiner 1992). the role of outgroup interaction in changing police Similarly, it is arguably the politicisation of crime attitudes, although the nature of the interaction - where opposition and government politicians between task environment and occupational seek to capitalise on a law-and-order platform - socialisation has not yet been fully mapped out which forces police to adopt a get tough approach. (Brown and Willis 1985; Skolnick and Fyfe 1993; Even if politicians are not responsible directly Wortley and Home1 1995).
professions of medicine and law have been repeatedly accused of practices characteristic of the alleged police culture - such as secrecy, protection of colleagues, resistance to outside scrutiny, and stereotyping of and discrimination against troublesome clients (Pollock 1994; Radelet and Carter 1994). Similarly, there is a growing recognition of unethical behaviour in most public and private sector organisations (Grabosky 1989; Baron and Greenberg 1990). Complaints made to new oversight bodies in Australia, such as the Criminal Justice Commission in Queensland and the Independent Commission Against Corruption in New South Wales, show that problems of misconduct and corruption are not unique to policing but can occur anywhere in public service departments. These cases are merely instances of the well-established principle in political science of the power of the public service to subvert government policy and public service guidelines. From the point of view of conflict or interactionist criminology, adverse attention to the culture of policing is continuous with the traditional neglect of upper class white collar crime over lower class street crime. In this case, the para-professionals the police ‘on the street’ are focused on in default of misconduct and lack of accountability among more elite groups.
Emphasising the Task Environment
52 Regardless of ambiguity surrounding the influence of different aspects of the policing context, a primary element contributing to police deviation from due process is the rigours of the adversarial system. Poorly trained police face defence lawyers skilled in legal technicalities and the arts of persuasion. Gathering evidence in many types of crime is often extremely difficult given the absence of witnesses, or the unwillingness or unreliability of witnesses. It is a common complaint of police that their hard work in capturing criminals is undone by light sentences. Given community support for this view, it is little wonder police feel justified in taking the law into their own hands (Skolnick 1975).
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interaction of the police with the public in situations of conflict and venality (Sherman 1983; Brown 1992) - situations riven by ‘desperately conflicting imperatives’ (Skolnick and Fyfe 1993: 112). In comparing complaints against police and other public sector agencies, it is significant that in Queensland approximately 75 per cent of complaints made to the Criminal Justice Commission concern police (CJC 1995b). In New South Wales, the magnitude of the corruption problem resulted in a Wood Commission recommendation for a powerful oversight body exclusive to police - the Police Integrity Commission (Prenzler et al. 1996). The term police culture therefore has utility in describing problems identified in police behaviour Is There a Police Culture? (police subculture or traditional police culture are There is sufficient evidence from research and probably more accurate terms). The role of culture inquiries to conclude that police services have been in policing is part of the larger issue of causality of characterised by many of the undesirable qualities social phenomena. Much of the writing on police captured by the term police culture. Secrecy, culture is now seen as simplistic, with a tendency, isolation, discrimination and abuse of powers have despite attention to the task environment, to slip been common police characteristics in many into cultural determinism. Police culture countries (Wagner and Decker 1989). Nonetheless, informal codes and traditions - is too often it would seem that an unjustifiable and misleading ‘treated synonymously as the cause and effect of stereotype has been created out of the literature on police misbehaviour’ (James and Warren 1995: 3). police culture. Police forces are probably not as However, whether alternative explanations homogenous as has been assumed. Occupational emphasise situational aspects of the work socialisation is not necessarily the major source of environment (Brown and Willis 1985; Wortley and undesirable police practices, and police are probably Home1 1995) or stress individual factors in not as unique from other occupations as has been compliance (Shearing and Ericson 1991; James and Warren 1995), the critiques leave some space for a contended. Commonalities between organisational generalisable police agency in cultural reprocultures, and differences between groups and duction. In particular, culture serves a rationalising individuals in organisations, are recognised in and reinforcing function (Grabosky 1989). In the organisational theory; but so too is the fact that political context, for example, police have been organisations can develop distinctive characteristics actively involved in perpetuating the crime control and that employees will adapt to the culture of their model by promoting it to politicians and the workplace (Baron and Greenberg 1990; Hodgetts public, and mythologising physical conflict 1991). There are some core features of police (Reiner 1992). Senior police have also at times agencies which are apparent across time and across been adept at manipulating the political jurisdictions. Many of these characteristics are environment to obtain autonomy which then served evident i n other public and private sector their self-interest (Sherman 1983). Police hostility toward their client group is no organisations, but it is also apparent that some of these elements have been particularly intense and doubt the product of social inequalities that pervasive in policing. Skolnick and Fyfe maintain structure police and disadvantaged groups into that the police code of silence, for example, ‘is an antagonistic roles (Reiner 1992). Nonetheless, extreme version of a phenomenon that exists in all police are expected to behave professionally with human groups’ (1993: 112; see also Gaines et al. moderation and with respect for civil liberties. 1994; Finnane 1994). This appears to be primarily While many critics have exaggerated the cultural attributable to the more intense and direct autonomy of police, some scope must remain for
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police to take responsibility for the type of force Knapp NYCPD has been held up as a showcase of they create. Here Reiner identifies an inescapable reform. Subsequent complacency and a changing paradox: while police ‘may not be m o r e external environment - i n particular the authoritarian than the general population, the proliferation of the illegal drug trade - allowed “normal” degree of authoritarianism is disturbing in corruption to re-occur (Mollen 1994). It has been an occupation which wields considerable power argued nonetheless that the continued presence of the anti-corruption infrastructure kept corruption at over minorities’ (1992: 127). significantly reduced levels in the 1980s and 1990s, and allowed eventual identification and elimination Policy Implications of corruption pockets (Henry 1994). The key implication of the above analysis is that Law enforcement is the primary factor here. changes are needed to the traditional police culture. Perceptions of the likelihood of punishment can be But change will be particularly difficult given the relatively effective in controlling organisational apparent impact of the task environment. The crime where staff risk status and income (Grabosky environment can be changed to some extent (by 1989), and police appear to be in this category. rescinding unenforceable laws for example) but Tightened regulations and enforcement change the changing the confrontational nature of police work culture by removing some of the permissiveness will be extremely difficult given that involvement that allows unacceptable elements of the culture to with crime, criminals and social unrest is the develop (elements such as assaults, personal jobs police role. Police therefore need to be made more or graft). Surveillance and enforcement break down resistant to the influence of the task environment. the protective and nurturing solidarity of the The discipline of organisational behaviour organisation by creating a functional divisiveness shows that work cultures can be changed from low (Henry 1994: 167). productivity and cynicism to high productivity and commitment independently of changes to the Management and Education external environment (Hodgetts 1991). However, the history of police subversion of reform cautions Critics of legal-bureaucratic models of reform against optimism about substantial and permanent identify several problems. Change may, to some The presence of an change (Henry 1994). Reform will be subject to a extent, be illusory. enforcement bureaucracy and the scapegoating of conflict between structural and cultural factors and a time lag between changes to structures and changes some officers may only create an appearance of to culture (Hodgetts 1991; Brown 1992). Policing discipline and drive misconduct underground. The can be described as a ‘stability-oriented basic nature of police work remains one of (homeostatic)’ culture particularly resistant to unsupervised encounters between operational police change (Baron and Greenberg 1990: 299); and and citizens where the detection of misconduct is resistance by the rank-and-file and management is extremely difficult (Elliston and Feldberg 1984). likely to be compounded by the imposition of There is also some evidence that a disciplinary reform from without - as is usually the case with regime may increase the police sense of persecution, further alienate the police from the police following corruption scandals. public, and inhibit police in effective discretionary peace keeping (Bracey 1989; Sykes 1989). Laws and Procedures Moreover, effective law enforcement requires zeal The debate over effective reform tends to divide and competence on the part of the enforcers (Doig between models of structural change and models of et al. 1984). Arguably, zeal and competency are cultural change. The best-known example of aspects of culture. internal structural reform is in the New York City Many police scholars hold to a softer line on Police following the Knapp Commission of change, emphasising the necessity of supInquiry in the early 1970s. The Knapp reforms plementing enforcement strategies with a wider focused on the extensive application of deterrence- range of measures grounded in personnel based strategies including integrity testing, the use management. In this model, effective reform of informants and a dedicated investigative internal depends less on fear than on the more desirable affairs department (Knapp et al. 1972). The post- attributes of collegiality, role modelling and
54 personal attachment to corporate goals. This approach is designed to win over staff through established good practice in communication and creation of job satisfaction (Baron and Greenberg 1990; Jans and Frazer-Jans 1991). A combination of background law enforcement and foregrounded positive reinforcement - ‘a good balance of pride and fear’ (Sherman 1983: 375) - is most likely to be successful to create a normative order congruent with corporate goals (Hodgetts 1991: 105-7,438). Cultural change is best achieved by eclectic means, as is the case with corruption prevention and crime reduction (Sherman 1983). The responsibility of managers for employees’ behaviour can be legislated (Doig er al. 1984), thus contributing to a cycle of reinforcements in which corporate goals include legitimate means for achieving corporate goals (Grabosky 1989). In this context, a focus on managing culture must include the process of monitoring behaviour and adjustment of behavioural modification strategies (Hodgetts 1991). Commitment by management appears to be a crucial ingredient i n change (Mar& 1990), but equally so is communication between management and staff because alienation between the two groups can easily subvert reform. Hypocrisy in messages is a major source of employee dissatisfaction and cynicism (Baron and Greenberg 1990). Resistance to reform can be mitigated by consultative and supportive strategies which themselves model many of the qualities sought in cultural change. Studies of police policy implementation show major deficiencies in communication (Hyams 1990; Carter and Barker 1991). Appropriate behaviour needs to be developed through normal learning processes of modelling and reinforcement, because rational bias operates whereby lower level decision-makers act on de fact0 cues from their superiors about which decisions are favoured and likely to be rewarded (Martin 1990: 92). Recruitment and training have at times been overestimated as sources of change. Nonetheless, there is evidence that academy cumcula can make a difference in liberalising recruits’ attitudes positive change can be overwhelmed by subsequent experience (Brown and willis 1985; Wortley and Hornel 1995). in training therefore need to extend Well beyond the academy and take up the principle of lifelong education to maintain official values as core
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elements of in-service training. Studies comparing the attitudes of recruits and serving officers show that police have been good at selecting trainees who hold to the formal values of the organisation (eg Ellis 1991). A primary task then is to maintain that commitment by in-service measures. Changing recruitment patterns from the 1980s appear to be slowly breaking down the relative homogeneity of the traditional police force (Bahn 1984; Henry 1994), and it appears that altered selection criteria can have a differential effect (Fitzgerald 1989; Sechrest and Burns 1992). Female recruits tend to be less ethnocentric and authoritarian than males, and recruits from ethnic minorities tend to be less ethnocentric. Both groups appear to be relatively less susceptible to enculturation than their white male colleagues (Wortley and Home1 1995). Higher education also has a liberalising effect that is relatively resistant to occupational socialisation and the task environment (Carter er al. 1989).
COnClUSiOn
The uniqueness and uniformity of the police working personality has been exaggerated in some accounts. At the same time, there are identifiable problems in police work which relate to the term police culture. These problems may be more marked in many police services than in other organisations. It is certainly the case that change is needed in the traditional police culture (as is change in the culture of many occupations). In policing, entrenched practices and peer pressure mean that at least a generation of change may be required before old-guard values are replaced. A mix of structurally oriented and culturally oriented innovations is needed to create reform while maintaining morale. The development of systematic enforcement procedures is needed, alongside human resource strategies which generate the highest possible ethical standards throughout the organisation. REFERENCES Akers, R 1994. Criminological Theories, Roxbury,
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