BECOMING A POLICEMAN

• NCJ Number: 54457
• Journal: Urban Life Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: (JULY 1977) Pages: 149-170
• Author(s): M HOPPER
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 22 pages
• Corporate Author: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THROUGH PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION AND INFORMAL INTERVIEWING, 28 AUSTIN, TEX., POLICE CADETS WERE STUDIED AS TO THEIR SOCIALIZATION INTO THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.

Abstract

THE OBJECT OF THIS STUDY WAS TO SHOW THAT THE POLICE CADETS DIFFERED IN TERMS OF THEIR BACKGROUND EXPERIENCE WITH THE LAW ENFORCEMENT PROFESSION AND THESE DIFFERENCES WERE INDICATIVE OF SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN THEIR LONG-RANGE PERSPECTIVES ON THE POLICE WORLD. THIS STUDY WAS ETHNOGRAPHIC, AND THE DATA COLLECTED WERE PRIMARILY QUALITATIVE. SUBJECTS WERE DRAWN FROM THE AUSTIN, TEX., POLICE ACADEMY. THE PRIMARY RESEARCHER FOR THIS STUDY WAS FEMALE, AND IT IS SUGGESTED THAT A FEMALE WORKING WITH AN ALL MALE SUBJECT POOL ACTUALLY FACILITATES SOCIAL INVESTIGATION. THE CADETS WHO CAME TO THE ACADEMY WERE FOUND TO DIFFER GREATLY IN THEIR SOURCES OF BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT LAW ENFORCEMENT. BECAUSE OF THE BACKGROUND DIFFERENCES, IT WAS NOT SURPRISING TO THE RESEARCHER THAT CADETS HAD THREE DIFFERENT LONG-RANGE PERSPECTIVES ON POLICE WORK. THIS FINDING IS CONSIDERED SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE MOST OTHER DISCUSSIONS OF POLICE SOCIALIZATION ASSUME A HOMOGENEITY IN CADETS' LONG-RANGE PERSPECTIVES. THE THREE PERSPECTIVES WERE AS FOLLOWS: (1) IDEALISTIC, (2) PRACTICAL, AND (3) REALISTIC. CHANGES IN CADETS' PERSPECTIVES THAT TOOK PLACE DURING THE COURSE AT THE ACADEMY REPRESENTED ATTEMPTS TO COPE WITH THE COURSE AND WITH THE REALITIES OF THEIR PROFESSION. THE STUDY'S MAIN FINDING WAS THAT THE IDEALISTIC PERSPECTIVE HAD LITTLE RELEVANCE TO THE CADETS' SUBSEQUENT ACTIVITIES. THE IDEALISTIC CADETS FOUND IT NECESSARY TO CHANGE PERSPECTIVES OR DROP OUT OF THE COURSE. BOTH THE PRACTICAL AND THE REALISTIC PERSPECTIVES WERE FOUND TO BE FUNCTIONAL, AND THE CADETS WITH THE PRACTICAL ORIENTATIONS, BY THE END OF THE COURSE, HAD DEVELOPED PERSPECTIVES VERY SIMILAR TO THOSE OF CADETS WITH REALIST PERSPECTIVES. A LIST OF REFERENCES IS INCLUDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--MLC)