Objective Culture In The Police Department

Great Essays
A society is composed of many different social institutions and each one of them has a specific function in order to maintain their society efficient. For instance, one of the most known social institution that has the duty to respond to any emergency situation within their community is the Police Department. Even though that being a police officer might look like just a simple occupation, it is in fact a complex profession. According to Malmin (2013), the reason behind this is because it possesses a significant risk to the wellness and health of its personnel. When someone occupies the shoes of a law enforcer he or she will become part of a subculture. According to Georg Simmel, a German philosopher, a culture is a group of people who share a common background due to the resemblance in their “beliefs,” “traditions,” and “behaviors” (Ritzer, G. & J. Stepnisky. 2014). This paper will focus on how police officers have become an objective culture by focusing in what differentiates them from other social institutions, their purpose to their society, and how they are perceived by others.
In
…show more content…
First, it pointed out what are some of the key components that characterize an objective culture (e.g. police officers) within a society, which is an important factor due to the reason that, it gives the reader a better understanding of the reasons of why people who share a common background tend to associate together. Also, it illustrated that when conducting a research it is very essential that one must take in consideration the level of analysis that the study is going to be focusing on. In addition, the article also demonstrated how in a society every social institution has its purpose and the function of the police is to enforce the law and preserve the peace within a

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    In January 2013, the arrest of three Schaumburg Police Department Special Investigation officers led to an investigation of the Schaumburg police department. The facts of this case include the Carol Stream polices officers, upon following up with a tip, found an apartment storage locker with narcotics. These police officers located the owner of the storage locker and he was arrested. Upon arrest, the informant stated that the narcotics found by the Carol Stream police officers were narcotics received by three Schaumburg Police officers and were to be sold by the informant on behalf of the police officers.…

    • 2403 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To Guard or Fight … Warrior vs. Guardian police mentality, which is best for officers? Each video had some great points, we see a collection of officers who truly desire for policing to be a responsible institution. Instead of seeing police as a force of law each held a position that seemed to nurture the philosophy to “serve and protect.” Each speaker presented themselves as a vessel for change. Brian Willis presented the very real truth of how many citizens view the police – as a dishonest group.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chief Mangan Leadership

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages

    (case study) In making these changes to the department’s overall culture, he ensured involvement of members of all levels of his police force in order to identify natural leaders from all ranks. He listened to their recommendations and allowed everyone an equal opportunity to speak without fear of repercussion. He took this to the next level by developing a strategic planning committee to draft a values statement (this became “Service Pride and Dedication”).…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Police culture, within criminology, is comprised of the overarching occupational philosophy and the individual officer personality type. Throughout the decades, the occupational philosophy of police culture has been molded by ‘core characteristic’ labels such as mission-oriented, suspicious, pessimistic, masculine, isolated and conservative. These labels have created an ‘ideal-type’ of culture that has lasted through time. What has risen through these molding characteristics is an occupational philosophy which includes concepts such as the thin blue line, an ‘us versus them’ mentality and the cop code of silence (Reiner, 1985). Recently there has been a shift outside of criminology, realizing that the idea of police culture has shifted from being “an internalized set of values which motivates people’s decisions and actions” to being a “resourceful tool on which people rely to make sense of situations they navigate in everyday life” (Campeau,…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Police brutality is becoming a major problem in today’s society. It has been an ongoing issue throughout the world. As society grows, the existence of police brutality become more of an issue. The issue posed by illegal use of power is ongoing reality for people of a disfavored race or sexual orientation. Police brutality remains as one of the most divisive human rights in the world.…

    • 106 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Corruption of Noble Cause is an excerpt written by Milton Rokeach that focuses on police values. In this excerpt it compares the values that different aged police share, along with the values that citizens share. Rokeach set up 4 hypotheses’ in which he stated the types of things that might shape the values of police. The insight that the study provides police administrators with can help them understand who they have working in their department and how they might be able to change this. The results of the first experiment indicate that police officers hold some values different that regular citizens.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Militarization of Law Enforcement Militarization of law enforcement has been a recently debated topic in society. There are several pro and cons associated with this idea. Militarization of the police has been going on for several years. There have been several studies conducted showing that militarization has played a key role in “professionalizing the police” (Bieler). The results showed that it helps the image of the officer and their discipline.…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This progression towards a state of inherent hostility as it pertains to the average police officer presents the question of whether or not this is more than a number of rogue officers acting outside of boundaries of the law. There are many that believe that this behavior is indicative of a new culture in which hostility and violence against certain groups is not only acceptable, but it is…

    • 1040 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Methodology and Research Strategy The qualitative research project concerning racial profiling will be explained in detail to give a better understanding of how it occurred. The study involves analyzing data from two separate groups of people from Los Angeles. One group of people was from a suburban area and another group from an inner city housing area. Both groups of individuals totaled to fifty individuals each.…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Radical Policing In Canada

    • 1730 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Policing in Canada has progressed since the Code of Hammurabi in 1200 BC. The first police force was founded, and organized by Sir Robert Peel, where he came up with nine principles that police officers should follow (Griffiths, 2015). One of these principles were that “police [should] maintain public favour by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service, not by catering to public opinion” (Griffiths, 2015, p. 29). As a result, police officers should not be affected by the opinions of the power groups or the government. However, this is not the case.…

    • 1730 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Policing In America

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Policing in America today has grown to become a one-of-a-kind economic, social and political force. In order to recognize how policing in the United States of America relates to the existing relationship between the police and the distinct social classes and ethnic groups, one needs to understand how the history of policing has developed in order to emerge as what it is currently. This paper will discuss the background history of the United States of America police as it relates to the current relationship between police and different ethnic groups and social class. This will help to have a better perception of how the different social classes and ethnic groups relates with the police.…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Police Brutality Analysis

    • 1785 Words
    • 8 Pages

    This cultural perspective paper will be on police brutality. This diverse situation and dilemma is our main problem of today’s society. This situation involves more than one cultural group. As we know it deals with white law enforcement and young black females and males. Police brutality has been going on for year just hasn’t been so main stream as it is today.…

    • 1785 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Law enforcement and other professions dealing with large, diverse groups of citizens face scrutiny as part of the job requirement. This not only exposes them to delicate situations or other cultures but, to the social activism sprung from the under lying problems of the communities. Poverty stricken communities are forced with stereotypes of violence and looting promoting the idea that this is the way of the entire community. (Text 4) This leads to an underlying problem of misunderstanding contributing to other problems, such as law enforcement brutality.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The problem created by law enforcement officers stereotyping individuals is that they tend o target and falsely accuse members of certain backgrounds because of the perceptions about the individual, based on a stigma that creates a negative image for the members of the group. What follows is discrimination by officers that reifies and creates the culture need for the formation of institutionalized discrimination within law enforcement agencies. When discrimination is present in law enforcement agencies a deviant subculture, which results in officers breaking the laws that they are to up hold and exemplify in order to enforce the laws. This deviant subculture can lead to individuals who occupy law enforcement roles to experience a phenomenon where there are conflicting roles expectations (norms or behaviors) associated with, in this case, being an officer.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Moreover, this perspective is concentrated around social conflicts between groups of people where the rules are determined and reinforced by those who are more powerful. Thus, the conflict theory provides an explanation of why police officers in different parts of the world use violence or excessive force towards regular citizens. It advocates that stereotypes, misrepresentation of minorities by the media, and lack of intergroup communication could contribute to the set of values implanted in the law enforcement agencies which is totally different from the values of minorities or people living in disadvantaged areas. Therefore, because the minorities and residents of poor areas have different interests that do not correspond with the interests that police officers usually adhere to, it creates conflicts between these groups.…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics