Police Subculture Research Paper

The militarization of police is essentially the use of military equipment and tactics by law enforcement officers. This can include the use of such things as assault rifles, submachine guns, armored personnel carriers, flashbang grenades, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, and special weapons and tactics teams (SWAT). The militarization of police is a point of concern for both Democrats and Republicans in the United States and has a long history dating back to the late 19th century. History of Police Militarization in the United States: Late 19th Century

Kappeler, Sluder, & Alpert (1998) explain that through the police subculture deviance enters into law enforcement. The police character that is developed can be attributed to several paradigms such as psychological, sociological, and anthropological. The individual personalities of an officer and the authoritarian personality, characterized by cynicism, aggression, and conservatism, is that the psychological paradigm analyzes (p. 85). The socialization process which officers experience when they go through the academy, training, and field experience, contrast that dispositional model of the police personality, and this is the focus of the sociological paradigm. When officers internalize these norms and values that are learned, this professionalization occurs. The occupational culture of policing and the -beliefs, attitudes, and values that make up the subculture is seen as the anthropological paradigm or the culturalization perspective (Kappeler, Sluder, & Alpert, 1998, p. 87-88).

What are the key components of the police subculture and what are the two most important in your perspective? The key components of the police subculture are: Use of force, control and territoriality, suspicion and solidarity. According to my experience I feel that the Use of force, control and territoriality are the important police subcultures in policing.

This special bond between fellow police officers is what is often coined as the police subculture. The police subculture is “a distinctive set of beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors that are shared amongst the majority of officers working in police organizations”. (Reference.com). Since a police officer’s job is to combat criminal activity, often times they see civilians as irresponsible and possible threats, which is partially true considering both the innocent and criminals are civilians. Therefore, the only other individuals police officers can trust fully are other police officers. From this connection, aspects of friendship, cooperation, and reliability arise which supports the idea of police officers against civilians, or “us versus them”.

Seminar in Law Enforcement Explain the origin and various theories regarding the “Police Subculture.” Discuss the impact this subculture has had on policing on American society. The law enforcement code of ethics is composed of three parts. The first part concerns equal protection.

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.

Another interesting research that was conducted on reducing police corruption, involved the Chicago Police Department. This research on completed by University of Illinois at Chicago, the Department of Political Science in 2013 by John Hagedorn, Bart Kmiecik, Dick Simpson, Thomas Gradel, Melissa Zumda, David Sterrett along with Ivana Savic, Justin Escamilla, Magdalena Waluszko, Dalibor Juricis, and Tricia Chebat. The first part of their research touched a topic every person in law enforcement is familiar with - The Code of Silence (also known as ’The Thin Blue Lines’). One example of corruption, proved even more to researchers that corruption won’t stop until the unspoken of code of silence is gone away with and forgotten. According to Curry (2012), in 2007 Officer Anthony Abbate jumped over a bar, and repeatedly beat on the bartender after she said he had too many drinks and refused to give him anymore all while being filmed on their surveillance tape. When police officers were called to the scene, they failed to mention that the attacker was indeed a police officer with the Chicago Police Department. During their research, they noted that after the attack, over 200 hundred phone calls were made between Police Officer Abbate, fellow police officers and also supervisors. Officer Abbate was arrested, charged and convicted of felony battery and was later fired. During the investigation, text messages between Abbate and a fellow officer, showed that Abbate

Officers may feel the justice system isn’t working or believed they have fewer rights than criminals. When it pertains to the media, the actions of a few unethical officers are the overall public’s perception for all police officers. Officers are mostly mistreated in society and feel worthless for the efforts and energy to mustered the strength to perform their duties. Due to these factors, productivity decrease and misconduct increase within the department. It can also negatively influence officers’ perception and overall behavior toward the job.

Lack of training and policing standards are closely linked to the myriad problems bedeviling police work, especially in small departments (Brodeur, 2010). All over the country, police departments report cases of officers being caught in uncompromising and unprofessional situations, resulting in disciplinary actions such as redeployment, suspension or sacking. These cases of unprofessionalism have led to questions being asked about policing, occasioned by recurring series of questionable and controversial encounters with police officers (Brodeur, 2010). The consequence of such encounters is increasing public distrust in law enforcement agencies.

Throughout all realms of the criminal justice system, it is hard to use discretion when arresting or prosecuting people. Another difficulty that police in our democratic society face is the discrepancy between their own personal freedoms and upholding the law, their job (Barkan, 2012). Police officers are allowed to think what they want or say how they feel, a right granted to them in the Bill of Rights. However, under the badge, police officers are required and expected to abide by the laws of the United States. Sometimes, the level of authority police hold in this situation can get them into trouble legally. This is what we call police misconduct (Barkan, 2012). One of the most notorious police scandals in history was the LA antigang Rampart Division scandal. In 2000, Rafael Perez, an LA police officer was arrested for stealing drugs. In exchange for a plea bargain Perez notified authorities of other corruptive instances in the Rampart Division. More than 70 officers were scrutinized for these acts (Barkan, 2012).

1)     Abuse of authority is basically the catchall category for other inappropriate conduct that does not necessarily amount to crime, deviance, or corruption (Policing; Worrall & Schmalleger). As the book states, oficers may physically abuse a citizen through the use of excessive force. Also was stated, "Officers may psychologically abuse a citizen through the use of verbal assault, harrassment, or ridicule. Lastly, officers may violate a citizens constitutional, federal, or state rights. To me anything an officer may do that they know that is not allowed constitutionally to someone, is abuse of authority.

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.

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.

Police officers may or may not actively support noble-cause corruption. Sometimes when officers become aware of corrupt or illegal forms of misconduct, they are inclined to “turn a blind eye or look the other way.” It puts their fellow officers in a very difficult position, most officers tend to think that if they turn away and ignore it and do not acknowledge what is going on that they are not part of the misconduct or illegal activity. Most