NCJ Number
245292
Journal
Criminology Volume: 51 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2013 Pages: 365-397
Date Published
February 2013
Length
33 pages
Annotation
The aim of the current inquiry is to apply a multilevel approach to the study of police culture that identifies workgroups as important entities that influence officers' occupational outlooks.
Abstract
Relying on a well-established theoretical paradigm from organizational psychology, the aim of the current inquiry is to apply a multilevel approach to the study of police culture that identifies workgroups as important entities that influence officers' occupational outlooks. More specifically, the authors propose that police culture be assessed in a way similar to concepts in criminology, such as collective efficacy and street culture, whereby the shared features of individuals' environments are considered. Within this framework, the authors drew on survey data from five municipal police agencies to examine how strongly officers within 187 separate workgroups share culture, as well as the extent to which culture differs across these workgroups. Collectively, the findings suggest that the workgroup serves as a viable context that patterns culture in police organizations. As such, the study provides a way to move beyond conceptualizations of police culture as either a purely monolithic or an individual-level phenomenon. (Published Abstract)