Mental Modes/Mindsets
Being a police officer has often been known as a boring job. Because police work can go to extreme measures at any time, it is important to reinforce collective and impersonal nature of the job, in order to gain cultural characteristics. Personality and behavior is influenced by culture and structure; thus, social organization has cultural characteristics that are distinct from structural institutions. Much of Structural institutional comes from social science; thus, the way they influence awareness and behavior. While culture is still under control, even though sometimes it works invisibly, there are always highly visible and symbolic aspects of it. Some people know these aspects as traditions, which are often taken for granted.
A police officers job can be stressful in many aspects but it is important to have cultural characteristics that help reinforce the impersonal and collective nature of their work. The impact of police culture is social and recreational activities. Because of the intense nature of the work they do, police officers are often exposed and experience traumatic events in their lifetime more often than people in the general population; thus, this alone can cause work-related stressors. Two stress factors in police work fall into two categories which are work and organizational factors. The lack of administrative support for police officers and unproductive management styles, are inconsistency in enforcing protocols and lack of resources and some of the stressful factors in police work. Besides these two factors many officers report personal problems such as relationship and family issues. These stress factors can affect officers both at work and at home. Officers often bring their work problems to their homes and this is where issues arise. This is a chain affect that can cause a police officer to find unhealthy ways of coping with their stress and issues. Some of the consequences regarding police culture and stress in policing are depression,
A police officers job can be stressful in many aspects but it is important to have cultural characteristics that help reinforce the impersonal and collective nature of their work. The impact of police culture is social and recreational activities. Because of the intense nature of the work they do, police officers are often exposed and experience traumatic events in their lifetime more often than people in the general population; thus, this alone can cause work-related stressors. Two stress factors in police work fall into two categories which are work and organizational factors. The lack of administrative support for police officers and unproductive management styles, are inconsistency in enforcing protocols and lack of resources and some of the stressful factors in police work. Besides these two factors many officers report personal problems such as relationship and family issues. These stress factors can affect officers both at work and at home. Officers often bring their work problems to their homes and this is where issues arise. This is a chain affect that can cause a police officer to find unhealthy ways of coping with their stress and issues. Some of the consequences regarding police culture and stress in policing are depression,
References: Walker, S. & Katz, C.M. 2011. The Police in America: An Introduction, 7th ed. New York, NY. McGraw-Hill.