NCJ Number
89712
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1983) Pages: 54-61
Date Published
1983
Length
8 pages
Annotation
A survey of career choice values for a sample of police showed them to be divided among those with people-oriented values; professional, self-oriented values; and personal, reward-oriented values.
Abstract
Of the sample of 59 officers selecting from the 12 career choice values, 17 were oriented toward personal reward, 23 toward people, and 19 toward a professional career. One group is typified by a cluster of attitudes marking them as idealist and servants of the community. Generally, they are young and among the more educated. They pay an apparently heavy price in certain symptoms of stress (e.g., divorce, nerves, and arguments) when their ideals collide with reality. A second group reveals a cluster of attitudes associated with economic and security considerations. These are generally officers of some experience and higher rank. They tend to see their occupation in terms of wages and benefits. While the third group is security oriented, they are nonachievers who have soured on the system. This group tends to be composed of seasoned officers with little education, little self-esteem, and little job satisfaction. These findings indicate that police are not a homogeneous group, as they bring different backgrounds to policing and adopt different attitudes toward their work, which are related to the stress experienced. Tabular data and 15 references are provided.