NCJ Number
88955
Date Published
1983
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This study of two precincts of the New York City Police Department found two contradictory police cultures based on street work at the precinct level and managerial work at the headquarters level.
Abstract
The research strategy was to gather data on social organization and behavior by using such traditional anthropological techniques as participant observation over a continuous and extensive time period, event analysis, and network analysis. The contacts and the fieldwork occurred in the natural work setting of the precinct. All operational units inside and outside the precinct were observed, including clerical and support units. The managerial culture at the headquarters level seeks to maximize those bureaucratic benefits that come from efficient organization, rational decisionmaking, cost-effective procedures, and objective accountability. The 'street cop' culture is based on nostalgia, solidarity, on-the-job experience, and a mistrust of bosses. The incongruent value systems of these two cultures are major factors in the growing alienation of the street cop. The existence of the two cultures also has implications for change management. The replacement method of change, which seeks to replace inefficient or outmoded techniques with new more efficient ones does not promise to be as effective as the adaptation method, which is a more gradual approach and involves redefining or modifying existing practices and taking into account that attitudes and behavior conditioned by the 'street cop' culture must change gradually. Five notes are provided.