NCJ Number
216844
Journal
Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management Volume: 29 Issue: 4 Dated: 2006 Pages: 757-767
Date Published
2006
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This ethnographic study analyzed junior officers’ (frontline officers) attitudes toward senior officers and considered the implications for current reform efforts within the British police service.
Abstract
Findings revealed that frontline officers often regarded senior managers who had little direct street level police experience as suspect. Frontline officers reported a clear preference for being led by senior management who had “served their time” on the street. These findings are important because the current strategy of police reform in Britain involves employing police leaders who are from outside the British police service. The author points out that such a strategy may only be effective if specific efforts are made to bridge the credibility gap that will likely surround police leaders who have little or no street level policing experience. Bridging this credibility gap is particularly important given the wide degree of discretion frontline police officers enjoy in interpreting their roles and duties. The research methodology involved an ethnographic approach in which approximately 250 officers were accompanied on a range of shifts during a 6-week period between June and November 2004. Data included direct observations of police work and informal interviews, or conversations, with officers. Approximately 660 hours were spent observing the work of police officers in three police areas in England and Wales. The first area was on the edge of a city and was characterized by high levels of socio-economic deprivation; the second area was an inner-city neighborhood also characterized by high levels of socio-economic deprivation; and the third area was rural and had low levels of socio-economic deprivation. Future research should focus on the extent to which the police attitudes identified in this study apply to various roles completed by senior police managers. References