Monolithic Police Culture Analysis

Policing in today’s society has been impacted through a multitude of influences including social, political, and economical to name a few. One factor that has, in more recent years, left its imprint within policing is race. Race, brings up the subtopics of ethics, corruption, accountability, and public views on policing. The following paper will discuss these subtopics to help further understand why and how race plays such a significant role in current day society and policing.

In his article “Opinion: Proposed police reforms come from all corners, cover broad range”, Ken Armstrong ulitizes rhetoric techniques of ethos and pathos to convey in the necessity of heighted police reform across its regulations, among America. Proposals, express the necessity for inevitable change among the regulation of the national police department, “have come from scholars...and the police themselves”, those who have experienced the flaws that derive from the lack of organization among the police force in America, as they live their daily lives (Armstrong, 2016, paragraph 3). This sense of credibility that Armstrong conveys that fueled his ideas of police reform among American society, emphasizes his use of ethos to portray the importance

Bittner (1970:45) states that policing is inherently a discriminatory practice as police are distinguishing suspects from everyone else. Despite there being ethical and impartial police officers within the force, there are those officers are perceived as the ‘rotten apples’ in the force. These officers engage in corrupted behaviours by exhibiting discriminatory and prejudiced conduct towards minorities, as racial profiling can be seen as a practice of ‘hot spot policing’ by allocating their resources and time to areas of high-crime. However, this is in itself discriminatory because by allocating vast amount of resources to these areas of high-crime’, which are mostly of minority neighbourhoods, innocent individuals get caught in the crosshairs

The role of policing in our culture can be categorized in two broad models; crime fighter or public services role. These two models view policing in different ways as seen by society as a whole. The views of policing at stated by Pollack (2017), in with the crime fighter model focus on the “presumption is that criminals (who are different from the rest of us) are the enemy and police officers are the soldiers in a war on crime” (p.116). This view by police and society helps to formulate the style of policing they utilize leaning more towards force and not viewing all members of society as equal. The public servant view of policing described by Pollack (2017) as the “presumptions are different and include the idea that criminals are not so different from us and, in fact, may be our sons and daughters” (p. 116). This approach creates more of a protector for all people mindset with limited use of force and more fair treatment when working the beat.

Aggressive police culture will not change unless officers hold their colleagues accountable. It is important to check in with one another, to recognize the humanity within us. It is okay to become jaded sometimes, but there must be an awareness of how we treat one another, our motives, and particularly an officer’s duty to protect all American citizens. In addition to officers allowing other officers too much discretion, there needs to be a change in the amount of discretion given to police departments as a whole. The political climate of today’s tension has shifted public trust in the police. Ideally, the police are not corrupt and are fair, and if these qualities were more prevalent in police culture, then society would not have a mistrust. Discretion is a privilege that one earns through expression of the above listed

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, departments that serve less than 2,500 people are 84.4% white and departments that serve millions are 53.4% white (as cited in Fifield, 2016). Notably, Over the years, a lack of diversity within law enforcement has become a pertinent issue. Notably, the underrepresentation of minorities within law enforcement influences the relationship between communities and law enforcement by engendering distrust with law enforcement. To say nothing of, underrepresentation of minorities have had many people question whether departments mirror a diverse community. Nevertheless, with that being said, underrepresentation of minorities have generated tension and distrust between communities and law enforcement and many believe that police department need to mirror the race composition within their cities. Although some people may challenge that diversifying police officers will not make a difference in the relationship with communities, police departments mirroring the diversity of communities may mend tension.

“Yall haters corny with that illuminati mess, paparazzi catch my fly and my cocky dress. I’m so reckless when I rock my Givenchy dress. I’m so possessive so I rock his Roc necklaces. My daddy alabama, momma louisiana. You mix that negro with that creole make a texas bama. I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros. I like my negro nose with jackson five nostrils. Made all this money but they never take the country out me. I got hot sauce in my bag swag.” (Heal 1).

The police subculture is a very complicated and closed thing. On page 162 of the textbook, police subculture is defined as “a combination of shared norms, values, goals, career patterns, lifestyles, and occupational structures that is somewhat different from the combination held by the rest of society.” Police work is very dangerous by nature, and can make the officers feel separated from the rest of society. Officers tend to

Discrimination in police agencies is a big problem in this country. This discrimination comes in different forms and names. The three mains types are Institutionalized discrimination, Contextual discrimination, and Individual acts of discrimination. These patterns of discrimination can occur because that’s the way it has always has been done or because of the situation. Ethnic groups pose problems for police agencies including language barriers and their prior contacts with law enforcement. Gang involvement and the location a person lives can also lead to discrimination. Illegal immigrants pose a different type of problem for law enforcement. Because they do not want to be deported, most times they

From early studies of police departments and law enforcement agencies, their culture is described as authoritarian, cynical, distrustful, elitist, homogeneous, macho, misogynist, monolithic, pessimistic, suspicious, insular, socially isolated and highly resistant to change. Relationships between police officers and the communities they are sworn to protect and serve is often times tense and difficult to maneuver. Police departments can implement an effective mechanism for change as "fish rot from the head first."

“To What Extent does Police Occupational Culture Impact on the Social and Domestic live of Police Officers?” Plymouth Law and Criminal Justice Review. (2013): 229-247. Google Scholarly. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.

Police departments face increasing criticism from protesters, the media, and the federal government. Many negative personal encounters and officer-involved shootings have stimulated arguments about American law enforcement. These officer involved shootings have caused racial issues across the country. Is reform necessary? With approximately 18,000 police agencies operating in the United States, is reform even possible? I conducted a survey with both black and white respondents. The survey includes demographic information and a few questions that ties together the respondents demographic information and their thoughts of the police. In addition, I will discuss innovative strategies to improve the relationship between police and people

This study examined the effects of abuse of discretion by law enforcement officers. I examined five articles from scholarly sources and also interviewed one law enforcement officer and an individual who had recently been party to an incident involving police discretion. Based on my research and the interviews I conducted, I determined that cultural conditioning, race and class play a significant role in how a police officer uses his or her discretion. The basic question at hand is not whether an officer believes he should uphold the law. It is a simple question of whether or not the officer sees value in the life of the individual with whom he’s interacting. This I believe is due to a break down in community police relations and lack of diversity

Although, the Rixton Police Department has poor leadership the majority of the officer in the police department are excellent police officers and perform their duties professionally. There are two separate groups are referred to as cliques. There is a minority of six that is always causing problems and have their way of doing things in the police department. These six minority officers view the current police rules as military-style policing. These members of the minority cliques make it apparent that they do not care about the community, one talks about collecting guns and cracking people over the head without knowing what kind of call the officers are answering. The other would like the police department to be like the military, even the military style haircuts. The second group is the dominant police culture which dictates unestablished rules and regulations in the police department which consist of the democratic process. This does not sit well with the six minority groups, so they are in constant conflict with one another. This occurs because there is no chain of command to control the department and fix

Culture diversity in Victoria police would give police the tools to communicate with wider community effectively. As people would be more comfortable to discuss their issues with member of police from similar background. An example of