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Taking Police Culture Seriously: Police Discretion and the Limits of Law

NCJ Number
131901
Journal
Policing and Society Volume: 1 Issue: 2 Dated: (1990) Pages: 91-114
Author(s)
A Goldsmith
Date Published
1990
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Drawing upon some recent developments in organizational theory and administrative law, this analysis of police culture as concerned with police work provides the basis for a discussion of existing attempts at legal regulation of police behavior and suggestions of ways to overcome the limits of traditional legal regulation of police conduct.
Abstract
The police culture needs to be approached more positively as a potential resource in the formulation of rules governing police powers and practices rather than to be seen negatively as a contrary and perverse influence upon the "proper" exercise of police discretion and as subversive of the ideals and demands of legality. This requires that police administrators and police officers participate in negotiated rulemaking, a process similar to collective bargaining, in which police culture perspectives are drawn upon in formulating rules regulating aspects of police practice. 52 references (Author abstract modified)