NCJ Number
81518
Date Published
1981
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Police officers working in a large, eastern, metropolitan area were interviewed to determine their perspectives on the ways in which local government interests affect their work.
Abstract
Two perspectives on local government's influence were considered: the pluralist paradigm, which views police as mediators between the government and the public, and the class paradigm, in which police keep urban class boundaries secure through differential practices of law enforcement. One of the study's authors accompanied police officers on patrol over a period of 4 months. About 70 percent of the active members of the police force were interviewed, and background data on the community and the police department were also reviewed. Questions concerned such issues as the effect of public opinion on police work, the desirability of bargaining between police officers and citizens, and the effects of various community groups on police operations. The officers uniformly perceived the existence of social and economic stratification in the community. Police exhibited deference to upper-class citizens, although they resented their ability to command special police services. The bottom of the perceived community stratification is an underclass which is viewed as deviant and violent and which potentially threatens other groups. Police avoid regularly patrolling underclass areas, going to these places only when specifically instructed to do so. Within their perceptions of the class structure, police view the community as consisting of a variety of groups and view themselves as members of a group which must compete for attention and influence with other groups in the political arena. Findings indicate that the class and pluralist paradigms are oversimplifications and that neither, taken alone, can explain police behavior. Figures, notes, and 18 references are provided.