Job Satisfaction in Criminal Justice

Every culture is composed of four elements: “values, norms, beliefs, and expressive symbols” (Peterson, 1979, p. 137). Each police officer is influenced by the police organizational culture during training. After graduation fro the police academy, the officer is influenced by the more experienced officers of the department. Research conducted by several authors has found that peer influence never ceases even after years of experience in the field.

Occupational culture is derived from external work related aspects like interaction with the public, patrols etc whereas organizational culture comes from internal policing such as the line of rank and authority in work, changes in the work policies etc (Atkinson, 2016). Police culture was thought to be monolithic and hegemonic but over time several researchers have discovered that different cultures and sub cultures developed in response to different variables. For example, traditionally police intelligence work was done solely by sworn officers but over time a new position was created which introduced civilian staff into the organization. Atkinson’s (2016) research explored the interactions between sworn police officers and civilian staff and how the dominant culture of policing influenced the civilian staff attitudes. He discovered strong patriarchal dispositions within police culture that subordinated femininity, other masculinities and youth in an attempt to maintain the hegemony of police

Skolnick begins by concentrating and analyzing certain elements pertaining to the law enforcement profession. The elements Skolnick identifies are danger, authority, and efficiency in the eyes of the public, which all produces unique cognitive and behavioral responses as officers. To Skolnick this is the working personality aforementioned. Understanding this, Skolnick begins the discussion of how police culture plays into a policeman’s working personality. First it is important to realize that police officers are required to respond to assaults against citizens of the community, as well as the properties and possessions of those people. This has several implications. First, “The policeman, because his work requires him to be occupied continually with potential violence, developed perpetual shorthand’s identify certain kinds of people and symbolic assailants, that is, as persons who use gesture, language, and attire that the policeman has come to recognize as a prelude to violence,” (Skolnick, 143). This concept can be trouble to some, as it seems to have a discriminatory feeling

The lack of formalized data recording specific to first responders on and off duty incidents, and the lack of a formal definition of first responder culture. The term first responder culture is a broad term that encompasses many aspects of related psychology and operations. Police culture varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and the unique requirements of the communities in which first responders serve. Additionally culture can splinter into subcultures as assignments and missions within the department can vary. Defining first responder culture is significant in terms of how first responders process and mitigate job related stress in terms of psychological trauma. Though missions and demands placed on first responders vary, some similarities in first responder culture i.e. stress management, and help seeking behaviors. The cultural aspects of stress management and psychological conditioning for first responders can be traced back to basic training received as an entry level employee, and reinforced through on the job training and

“Somebody didn’t sleep through ethics training” (Ayer and Fuqua, 2001). This statement made by an officer in the movie Training Day, best exemplifies a major theme of the movie. Training Day should be shown to rookie officers as an example of how a police subculture can allow officers to abuse power. The movie is an over exaggeration, but provides depth and detail into certain situations officers may find themselves in. This paper will look at the specific concepts of a police subculture that officers may encounter.

There will always be a fight for justice, and where there is crime there are those who must solve them. I wish to pursue a career in the criminal justice industry, mainly working as a forensic science criminalist. Those who use scientific logic and evidence found at the scene of the crime to solve the case, The heroes who don’t wear the labcoats instead of the black and blues. Heroes like these need certain skills, interests, and values that make them an official criminalist.

Due to this, the effort to identify and understand how trends and traits making up organizational culture have been a priority amongst most organizations seeking to improve the effectiveness of strategic leadership. According to Schein (2004), the reason why such issues as culture and leadership is important stems from one of the critical factors, that is the fact that certain trends and traits are shared among a group hence forming a shared culture. Schein also explains other critical elements of culture such as structural stability. The definition of culture within an organization creates some sense of stability as it defines the identity

Law enforcement (police) subcultures have specific set of moral values and a certain mentality exhibited by those in law enforcement. It’s always the public against the police so they form an alliance for supportive reasons. However, people may believe police subculture is breaking down. Police subculture is breaking down because it is inconsistent with the formal morals and values related to the culture and that police are not the same as each other in their qualities and attributes. Examining ethics and its relation to the police subculture is important to help delineate not only the grey area of ethics but also the grey area within which the police operate (McCartney and Parent, 2015). For example, police officers are known to defend their own whether its something right or wrong. However, if another officer feels that the situation interferes with their morals, then it becomes inconsistent with the other officer’s

Police subculture is often a culture that is only known to police officers. It is an unwritten and an undocumented set of values and themes that all staff are aware of and can speak to (Jones, 2005). Because the subculture is so prevalent, and what the consequences entail if you defer from it, officers often do not make the proper moral or ethical decisions that should be made (Jones, 2005). The movie “Training Day” although it is dramatized it shines light on the reality of what happens behind the blue line.

Therefore, if anything influences the public safety work environment in a negative way, it needs to be dealt with as soon as possible or it can destroy the organization from the inside out, so we need to insure that this never happens first and foremost. Since organizational culture can only be as “powerful when leaders can guide and control these types of behavior in the workplace every day, and be commitment make changes if need be to insure unity” (Cooper, 2001, p. 1). But nothing ever stays the same; because as races or cultures changes within the organization so do policies and something will not. For example, in the public safety organization there might be set culture that other races will not deviate from if not necessary, like certain beliefs, practices, and values, that will “govern how they will functions from the rudimentary level, and it is believed that employees will use this as a way to learn how to cope daily with internal and external issues that have proven to worked in the past” (Sumwalt, n.d., p. 4).

In order to impose control on their employees, “ administrators are socialized by the organizations they work in and adopt behaviors and preferences that are consistent with organizational goals, thereby minimizing the influence of their own personal values on bureaucratic behavior” (656 Wilkins & williams). According to Wilkins and Williams, police are an oddity, in that they have an innate culture that pushes them away from the social norms they are used to. This article for example, is all about how African American police officers are socialized from “Black to Blue”. What this means is that the socialization of most police departments is so strong, that police officers can lose their prior identity. The overarching and powerful socialization begins as cadets, and continues over the course of their career. It becomes strong enough that it essentially replaces their existing set of norm, and replace them with the police’s.

The culture that I chose to write about is one that is part of the intelligence community career field. This can also relate to the Criminal Justice career field as some intelligence jobs intermix with those in the criminal justice world. An example of this would be an analyst position within the Department of Homeland Security such as ICE. It’s important to note that there are many roles that analyst can perform such as Tactical, Collection/Reporting, and Strategic. Although each career track is different, all are built on the intelligence cycle: planning, collection, exploitation and analysis, and dissemination and reporting ("Intelligence Analysts | FBIJOBS," n.d.).

When this loyalty to the subculture becomes too strong, the unity that follows can adversely affect the ethical values of the officers (Martin 2011). This type of work environment causes officers to feel like they are doing what is wanted by their organizations and the public and the officers may continue with the behavior because the pressure to produce results is greater than that to follow the rules. A law enforcement department might choose to punish an individual, but the fear of punishment usually is not enough to change unwanted behavior (Martin 2011).

Police subculture undermines ethics and has a constant influence on officers’ decision-making process, which ultimately leads to misconduct. Police, like most professions, have a secretive yet unique type subculture because the lifestyles of its members are significantly different. Law enforcement officers tend to befriend other officers or people with similar roles within the criminal justice system. Many times, friendships extend to firefighters and other civil service personnel to include military members.

Edgar Schein, a famous theorists dealing with organizational culture, provides the following definition for the term: "A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems that has worked well enough to be considered valid and is passed on to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems." (organizationalculture101) However, organizational culture is more than sharing assumptions used by a group to solve problems; it is the combination of the points of view, ineffectual processes, education, backgrounds of all the staff which are part of an organization way of doing things. Corporation culture should uncover from the board of the directors to the rest of