NCJ Number
82585
Date Published
1982
Length
230 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the public mediation function of patrol officers is based on a survey of 210 officers in 3 cities; 28 were interviewed extensively. It illustrates how officers caught between government policies demanding maintenance of order and public objections to these activities suffer role conflict, stress, and family problems.
Abstract
Officers spend most of their time negotiating neighborhood disputes. However, they can only temporarily resolve conflicts with measures that make neither disputant happy. For example, a mediator in the dispute between a shift worker trying to sleep in the afternoon while his neighbor has a lively party can only insist that both parties compromise their demands and be more sensitive to their neighbors. Supplying patchwork solutions and having to enforce unpopular laws, such as traffic regulations, produces much public criticism. In addition, the strains of shift work, crisis management, and contact with the seamier side of society cause police and their families to suffer. Most police families associate only with other police families, thus reinforcing clannishness. Officers develop 'gladiator' mentalities in public encounters. Wanting quick solutions to community conflicts not covered by law, they often engage in quasi-legal or illegal activities (such as harassment, threats, questionable stop-and-frisk) and develop elaborate mechanisms to protect themselves and colleagues from criticism. They tend to blame the 'lenient courts' and 'permissive correctional programs' for rising crime rates. Over the years, officers become more bureaucratic, efficiency-oriented, authoritarian, and cynical. The key to changing the scope and direction of police work lies in understanding the dilemmas of police mediators. Chapter notes, tables, and about 100 references are provided. Appendixes include procedural notes, an index, and the study questionnaire.