NCJ Number
118236
Date Published
1979
Length
44 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the dynamics of policing from a psychological perspective addresses such issues as measures of police effectiveness, leadership and supervision, peer relations, minority and female police, police occupational stress, police community service, and police occupational stress.
Abstract
Assessments of police performance typically show that departments tend to move toward routinization rather than goal orientation, toward short-range expedient goals rather than long-range goals, and toward the protection of worker comfort and job security rather than toward the attainment of professional ends. Individual officer goals are often to avoid censure by superiors and peers, to obtain job security, to protect retirement, to develop a record of citations and arrests, and to avoid citizen complaints. Peer relations are particularly influential in determining police attitudes and behaviors. Police reactions to threats to their professional and personal identities are manifest in officer reactions to the hiring of minorities and women. Efforts to mitigate officer bonding in a posture of isolation from the community include the emphasis on police community service rather than just law enforcement. Police selection, training, and stress management are important in determining the degree to which departmental goals extend beyond routinization. 9 notes, 98 references.