NCJ Number
83138
Date Published
1981
Length
220 pages
Annotation
This ethnographic description of the policing subculture focuses on the introduction and acculturation of female officers.
Abstract
Fieldwork techniques used in the study included 1 year of participant observation with the Atlanta Police Department and indepth interviews with 50 police officers. The study concludes that the incorporation of women officers has effected little change in either the cohesiveness of the police as a group or in police officers' sense of alienation from the public. The policewoman's lack of impact in policing appears to result from two somewhat contradictory factors. The women have not influenced the males' self-image or police-public relations, because they have not been accepted as true police officers. Simultaneously, they have been acculturated into the group's behavioral and attitudinal patterns. Responses of the male officers interviewed revealed their nonacceptance of women as effective police officers. Upon hearing a female receive a call, many officers converge on the reported scene and largely take control of the situation. In the sexually mixed detective units observed, the females assumed a subservient behavior pattern when partnered with males. Although incidents involving physical force are rare, the males interviewed believe that legal and administrative decisions, not the presence of female officers, have produced the new less physical policing style. The women observed did not have confidence in their physical capabilities in dealing with actual or potentially violent situations. Prolonged training in the martial arts for female recruits would not only increase their confidence in themselves, but also increase the public's confidence that female officers can handle incidents requiring physical capabilities. Tabular data and 54 bibliographic listings are provided.