NCJ Number
103282
Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 6 Dated: (1983) Pages: 17-37
Date Published
1983
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews the dimensional approach to defining professionalism developed by sociologists and compares it with officers' perceptions of police professionalism.
Abstract
Education, service orientations, autonomy, sense of calling, formation of professional associations, and recognition by the public are among dimensions of professionalism that have been identified. Self-regulation, authority over clients, monetary reward, and a professional subculture are additional dimensions. An analysis of essays on 'the professional police officer' was made using responses from 50 respondents in a small town police department, a State police headquarters, and a training academy. Results indicate that officers' responses show considerable similarity to and overlap with the dimensions identified by sociologists, although there were some qualitative differences. Further, there were high correlations between the rank-order of the 10 identified across all 3 subsamples. This suggests that police professionalism is a unidimensional concept among officers despite differences in rank and organization membership. 3 tables and 60 references.