Police Professionalization - Pursuit of Excellence or Political Power? (From Managing Police Work, P 75-106, 1982, Jack R Greene, ed. - See NCJ-84730)

• NCJ Number: 84734
• Author(s): B A Menke; M F White; W L Carey
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 32 pages
• Grant Number(s): 77-C-8055
• Sponsoring Agency: Washington Office of Financial Management
• Corporate Author: Washington State University
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The police occupation and achievement is not congruent with the professional model, and efforts to bring policing in conformity with such a model tend undermine police accountability to the public in accordance with the police role in a democratic society.

Abstract

Police are hampered in the process of professionalization, because there is no agreed-upon knowledge base for the occupation, and provisions for education and training are weak. Further, the link between police work and basic social values is strained by the particularistic world view held by the police. The effort to develop professional autonomy, a component of the professional model, is not appropriate for police, because this would challenge their accountability to the public. Also, a professional community does not exist among the police, and the motivation and commitment characterizing the occupation are in the main self-interested. Enforcement of the police code of ethics is a bureaucratic rather than a professional function, which does not conform to the professional model. Those arguing for the professionalization of the police suggest that formal social control is a highly technical matter best left in the hand of expert professionals. This leaves the public with 'professional' pronouncements about causation and cure instead of public debate about the implications of various social structures and conditions for the generation of crime. The quest for power and authority associated with professionalization is essentially a contest over who has the right to define social situations. A democracy is based on the principle that the citizen has that right and that it cannot be waived or granted to any group of self-interested persons, occupationally based or not. Sixty-eight references are provided. (Author summary modified)