NCJ Number
186470
Journal
Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management Volume: 23 Issue: 4 Dated: 2000 Pages: 416-438
Date Published
2000
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article examines Israeli police officers’ views regarding the illegal use of force.
Abstract
Personal questionnaires were administered to a sample of Israeli police officers who had been investigated for using illegal force against citizens between 1989 and 1997. Informal messages, contrary to the police department’s formal messages regarding the use of force and justifying it in certain circumstances and for certain types of offenses, were highly prevalent, especially among middle-rank officers. Findings support the existence of a deviant organizational subculture. The article notes that the existence of an organizational subculture is a normal and inevitable phenomenon in all organizations. However, this police subculture was not homogeneous and unique along rank lines; officers varied greatly in their attitudes and, consequently, in their behavior. To make changes in a subculture that permits and even encourages violence and other illegitimate means in its routine work, the article suggests, among other measures: (1) gradually changing to community policing; (2) improving recruitment criteria; (3) reinforcing internal mechanisms for identifying potentially violent officers; and (4) changing training programs to incorporate the study of situations likely to provoke police violence. Tables, notes, references, appendix