Police subculture, discretion, duty
Pollock, Chp. 7
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Police working
environment
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Identify and arrest criminals
Deter crime through patrol and other
measures
Promote civil order
Provide emergency services
Help those at risk of being victimized
Facilitate movement of traffic
Resolve conflicts
Promote a feeling of community security
“A routine punctuated
by moments of terror”
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Many “routine duties” (e.g., traffic
enforcement, neighbor disputes, family
fights) involve considerable risk
Working factors
– Force and coercion
– Violence, danger
– Uncertainty
– Excitement
– Availability of firearms
Police tools limited
– Legal, social, political constraints
– Probable cause standards
– Restrictions on use of force
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February 22, 1994 – LAPD Officer
Christy Hamilton, Devonshire Division
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Officers Hamilton and others responded
to a family disturbance with shots fired in a residential
neighborhood. As she stood by her patrol car a 17-year
old youth who had just murdered his father fired a
.223 caliber assault rifle, striking officer Hamilton
above her ballistic vest. The assailant committed suicide.
Who is drawn into policing?
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Police applicant characteristics
– Working class and lower-middle class, white, male
– Conservative political and social views
– Assertiveness and physicality
– Wants steady work with good pay and benefits
– Idealistic, desires to help others
– Taste for risk and excitement
– Friends and relatives in law enforcement
Some desirable characteristics
– Logical skills and intelligence
– People oriented, free of bias
– Tolerates stress and risk
– Self-insight, emotionally stable, not impulsive
– Courage, not overly aggressive
– Command presence
– Works well as a team member, accepts direction
Police personality
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Hard lesson: badge + gun compliance
Recruits learn caution at the academy
– Police work can be dangerous
– Stories of officers hurt and killed
– Persons identified by habit or attire
as “symbolic assailants”
– Almost anyone can prove dangerous
Cynicism and morbidity
– Personality  environment
– Justice not always possible
– Reality  Altruistic, “helping”
orientation of new officers
Cynicism may peak right after the
academy and decrease mid-career
Typology of police personality
(John Broderick)
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Enforcers: Keep beat clean, arrest evil-doers,
help good people
– Distinction between “good” and “bad” persons
– Frustrated by legalities and the CJ process
Idealists: Duty to keep the peace and protect citizens
from criminals.
– High value on individual rights
– Many college graduates (?)
Realists: Focus on the process – reports, procedures
– Not concerned with greater issues (e.g. social order)
– Narrow definition of the job leaves them less frustrated than others
Optimists: See their job as people rather than crime-oriented
– Enjoy service aspects of policing and solving problems
– Lowest amount of job resentment and conflict
Officer discretion
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Wilson’s policing styles
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Watchman:
 Focus on order maintenance
 Ignore minor infractions
 Prefer to resolve issues informally
Legalistic
 Eager to invoke formal sanctions (arrests and citations)
 Disorderly persons viewed as a criminal threat
 Reluctant to intervene when legal authority is unclear
Service
 Blend of the above styles, with less emphasis on making arrests
 Emphasis on quality of life issues
 Prefer to resolve situations through conciliation and referrals
Discretion and duty
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Officer issues
– Attitude toward ambiguous situations
– Self-image as servant or crime-fighter
City and agency policies
– Constraint discretion
– Different orientations in affluent and modest areas
Loss of discretion in domestic violence situations
– Failure to act resulted in mandatory arrest policies
– In many other areas officers have retained discretion
Paradigm for ethical decision-making
– What does the law require?
– What does departmental policy require?
And, if there is discretion:
– What do individual ethics require?
Officers influenced by individual and environmental variables
– May define situations differently
Profiling
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Profile variables
– Race and ethnicity
– Social class
– Time and place
– Appearance and behavior
Profiling as a preventive tool
– Effectiveness and efficiency
– Some criminal activity is ethnicallybased (e.g., street gangs)
Historical abuse of minorities and poor
– Less able to “fight back”
Other variables
– Demographics (rich/poor, urban/rural)
– Local crime and violence
– Government and public pressures
– Police subcultural issues
Officer behavior has complex causes
INDIVIDUAL VARIABLES
• Intelligence
• Aggressiveness/assertiveness
• Impulsivity
• Adventurism (stimulus seeking)
POLICE PERSONALITY
• Enforcers
• Idealists
• Realists
• Optimists
(Just one example)
ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES
• Local demographics
• Crime and violence
• Authority/power
• Danger / unpredictability
• Temptations
SUBCULTURAL VALUES
• Autonomy
• Solidarity
• Cynicism
• Use of force and coercion
• Neutralizers, justifications
Ethical dilemma
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You stop a vehicle that has been speeding and cutting people off. It
is technically “reckless driving”, a misdemeanor, which authorizes a
physical arrest. But normally you would write a ticket for speeding
and give a brief lecture.
This driver gives you a lot of lip. He does not have other recent
tickets.
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Identify the most relevant values and concepts
Identify the most immediate dilemma that the officer faces
Apply the most appropriate ethical theory and resolve the
dilemma
Identify factors discussed in Chapter 7 that might influence how
police officers might perceive this dilemma, and how they might
resolve it
Ethical dilemma
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You are looking for a vehicle thought to be involved in a gang-related
“drive-by” shooting several days ago. There is no license plate
number, only a brief description of the vehicle and of three unidentified
suspects.
In the same general area you spot a car that is similar in appearance.
It is occupied by two persons of the same ethnicity, gender and
approximate age as the suspects. They glance over at your car but
do not do anything else.
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Identify the most relevant values and concepts
Identify the most immediate dilemma that the officer faces
Apply the most appropriate ethical theory and resolve the dilemma
Identify factors discussed in Chapter 7 that might influence how
police officers might perceive this dilemma, and how they might
resolve it