NCJ Number
175461
Journal
Policing Volume: 20 Issue: 4 Dated: 1997 Pages: 786-812
Date Published
1997
Length
27 pages
Annotation
Differing attitudes toward and participation in various general types of deviant activities among police patrol officers with varying levels of organizational commitment indicated that organizational commitment appeared to be a highly relevant variable in the study of police deviance.
Abstract
Data were obtained from a police department that had 285 full-time sworn police officers, including 97 in the patrol bureau, and that served a city of more than 140,000 residents. Field work consisted of both on-site and participant observations with a sample of police patrol officers. In-depth interviews were conducted to supplement field observations, and data were collected using a 41-item instrument that focused on demographic information, level of organizational commitment, and attitudes toward occupational deviance. Results clearly demonstrated that level of organizational commitment accounted for differences in attitudes toward, justifications for, and participation in different types of deviant activities. For instance, police patrol officers with a low level of organizational commitment tended to engage in work avoidance and manipulation tactics and deviant activities against the organization, in part to undermine goals of the organization and/or to strike back at the organization. In comparison, police patrol officers with a high level of organizational commitment perceived work avoidance and manipulation to be deviant and detrimental to police officer safety and community service. Although the data have some limitations, findings provide a broad context for understanding police occupational deviance and some valuable insights into the social organization of policing. Interview questions are listed in an appendix. 54 references, 17 notes, and 4 tables