Police Subculture
1. What role does the police/corrections subculture play in fueling law enforcement misconduct? Defend your position.
It is unreasonable to believe law enforcement misconduct does not exist; it has been ongoing since the creation of the law enforcement entity. This is due to the subculture created within the police and corrections units. A subculture is unwritten rules and guidelines referring to attitudes, beliefs and behaviors assisting the officers in survival. Survival refers to camaraderie within the unit, such as being accepted and trusted within the group. Survival goes further than that though, for example for officers who do not conform to the norms of the police/corrections world, if they are need of backup fellow officers may be slow to respond to the outsider. Following the subculture does not necessarily mean …show more content…
for example, but not reporting any type of officer misconduct is also a version of conforming. Officers that do not necessarily commit the act but also do not rat out the ones that are, they are safe, and considered loyal, trusted and part of the group. Do I believe this happens? Definitely. I work in a Security Forces squadron and have done so for over 7 years now. Too many times, have I heard airman fail to perform duties as outlined in regulations, such as not scanning their buddies ID card or throwing away a Lost and Found item because they did not want to tag it. When asked about the situations, their excuse is “Oh, everyone does it. It’s no big deal”. When Airmen are asked why they did not report the violation, of any kind, they merely state, “He’s my friend” or “I don’t want to get involved”. These are all examples of conforming to the unwritten rules of being a wingman in every way possible or you are out of the group. Cops are tightknit groups and to exclusion is probably the
It is unreasonable to believe law enforcement misconduct does not exist; it has been ongoing since the creation of the law enforcement entity. This is due to the subculture created within the police and corrections units. A subculture is unwritten rules and guidelines referring to attitudes, beliefs and behaviors assisting the officers in survival. Survival refers to camaraderie within the unit, such as being accepted and trusted within the group. Survival goes further than that though, for example for officers who do not conform to the norms of the police/corrections world, if they are need of backup fellow officers may be slow to respond to the outsider. Following the subculture does not necessarily mean …show more content…
for example, but not reporting any type of officer misconduct is also a version of conforming. Officers that do not necessarily commit the act but also do not rat out the ones that are, they are safe, and considered loyal, trusted and part of the group. Do I believe this happens? Definitely. I work in a Security Forces squadron and have done so for over 7 years now. Too many times, have I heard airman fail to perform duties as outlined in regulations, such as not scanning their buddies ID card or throwing away a Lost and Found item because they did not want to tag it. When asked about the situations, their excuse is “Oh, everyone does it. It’s no big deal”. When Airmen are asked why they did not report the violation, of any kind, they merely state, “He’s my friend” or “I don’t want to get involved”. These are all examples of conforming to the unwritten rules of being a wingman in every way possible or you are out of the group. Cops are tightknit groups and to exclusion is probably the