Police Subculture Essay

According to the seminal work of William Westley (1970), the police subculture is a crucial concept in the explanation of police behavior and attitudes. The subculture, in his view, characterizes the public as hostile, not to be trusted, and potentially violent; this outlook requires secrecy, mutual support, and unity on the part of the police. Manning (1977) suggested that the inherent uncertainty of police work, combined with the need for information control, leads to police teamwork, which in turn generates collective ties and mutual dependency. Traditional characterizations of the police culture have focused on describing the shared values, attitudes, and norms created within the occupational and organizational environments of policing (Paoline, 2004, p. 205). However, some research has begun to investigate the assumptions associated with a single police culture.
For example, although some groups of police officers represent many of the negative attitudes of the traditional culture, others often possess attitudes that would be considered polar opposites. In other words, as police departments have become more heterogeneous, a single cohesive police culture could be expected to give way to a more fragmented occupational group (Paoline, 2003). This expectation is supported by the representation of racial minorities, females, and college-educated personnel who bring to policing different outlooks and attributes based on past experiences that may affect the way in which police collectively interpret the world around them (Paoline, Myers, & Worden, 2000). We must emphasize that the presence of an organizational culture in policing is not unique. Almost all organizations have a form of culture associated with the values, beliefs, and norms that are unique to the occupation and even to the