NCJ Number
185383
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 40 Issue: 4 Dated: Autumn 2000 Pages: 557-573
Editor(s)
Geoffrey Pearson
Date Published
2000
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This paper explores the slow pace of change within police organizations, examines possible reasons for this slowness, and suggests that new policies and legislation do not automatically result in desired transformation within the police.
Abstract
The paper argues that effective police transformation may require a more radical challenge to established police culture. Such a challenge may be generated by "dissident" police groupings that defy existing police practices and frameworks. The paper explores two such groups that emerged within the South African Police Service in the 1980's and 1980's. One of these organizations takes the form of a trade union and organizes rank and file members, while the other takes the form of a black management network and is concerned with organizing black police in a management function. The paper explores reasons for the genesis of these groupings and challenges they have posed and comments on the impact they have had on police management and the dominant police culture and compares the two South African dissident police groupings with similar groupings in the United States and Great Britain. The author concludes that the very existence of dissident police groupings and the challenges they pose directly confront the traditional hierarchical nature of police organization and the unspoken expectation of quiescent conduct by police officers and that dissident police groupings are powerful agents in changing police culture and practice. 39 references and 22 footnotes