NCJ Number
208831
Date Published
2005
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This chapter discusses the features of a police culture based in precedents and creative action rather than compliance with imposed rules.
Abstract
Behavior stems from participation in a culture whereby those who have incorporated cultural values into their cognitive and behavioral patterns then pass them on to new entrants into the culture through instruction in the context of situations and through observed example. Cultural values and behaviors thus become internalized over time until they are an instinctive aspect of behavior. Rules imposed externally after a personality has been culturally formed will have little impact. Those who enter policing enter a culture perpetuated by veteran officers who have already incorporated a distinctive police culture into their cognitive and behavioral performance. When instructing new officers, veteran officers will typically tell stories to illustrate how to respond effectively in particular policing situations. These stories become precedents for future actions in similar situations; however, each situation carries distinctive elements that require modified or new actions that then become precedents for other situations. This process of learning attitudes and behaviors within the policing culture is a combination of learning precedents from veteran officers (instruction that will involve some rules) and then incorporating the precedents over time in actual situations. Each situation, however, offers open-ended features that may require improvised and modified behaviors based on personalized decisions. Police culture is thus a combination of incorporating the past while forging cultural change based on improvisation in new circumstances. 153 notes