Each Day is Different: Prison Officers and Their Work

<p>In 1991 the New Zealand prison service underwent the most significant organisational changes. Instead of homogeneity and unity within the service, with rewards being given for length of time in the job, the emphasis was now on efficiency and competition for what few promotional rewards there were to be in the new career structure. At the same time, there was to be a bigger role for women and ethnic minority officers in the prison service. This thesis examines the way in which these superimposed changes affected the working routines and the day-to-day experiences of prison officers in their aftermath. It argues that, rather than leading to a new dynamic prison service envisaged by the reformers, the prison service instead became more divided and fractious, neither management nor the prison officer body being able to keep control of some of its members, while other officers became merely perfunctory in their work and others developed strategies that undermined the 'each day is different' philosophy now projected by the prison authorities. These resistances to, and subversion of the changes were because prison officer culture, seen by the prison authorities as a barrier to reform, was not destroyed by restructuring but underwent a metamorphosis. It was reformulated and reconfigured to take account of the structural and demographic changes. This then meant that a new prison officer culture emerged, modelled around difference and uncertainty rather than cohesion, antagonism rather than unity. It could lead to deviance and corruption (which the old style prison officer culture had largely prevented) rather than dynamism and efficiency. To undertake the research, the method involved use of questionnaires covering the prison officer body of one typical New Zealand prison, in-depth interviews with 39 prison officers and nine months observation period of the everyday life of the prison officers at this institution. This aspect of the research was stronglyinfluenced by Erving Goffman's dramaturgical perspective. The thesis sets out the theoretical parameters of the research as these relate to prison officer culture, and also provides an account of the methodology and the historical and contemporaneous background to the restructuring. It then provides an empirical analysis that demonstrates the effects of these changes on the everyday work of prison officers. These relate to the way in which the acculturation of the new recruits to the service became problematic because of the confusion brought about by the structural changes and the lack of experienced officers to mentor them. It then demonstrates how 'handling your lag' began to be experienced differently across the officer body, according to their length of service, ethnicity and gender. The old style unity and identity of the prison service was breaking down. This fragmentation was then exemplified by the shift to unit management. This was where power in the prison was now concentrated but, with the prison officer body too weak to regulate its use and with management increasingly distant from day-to-day prison life, this led to unpredictability and corruption. Finally, the thesis shows how many officers tried to adapt to the idea that 'each day in prison was going to be different', as promoted by the prison authorities, by trying to ensure at the same time that each day remained the same: excitement and dynamism could be tolerated only in so far as prison work remained at the same time extraordinarily mundane and routine.</p>

Each Day is Different: Prison Officers and Their Work

<p>In 1991 the New Zealand prison service underwent the most significant organisational changes. Instead of homogeneity and unity within the service, with rewards being given for length of time in the job, the emphasis was now on efficiency and competition for what few promotional rewards there were to be in the new career structure. At the same time, there was to be a bigger role for women and ethnic minority officers in the prison service. This thesis examines the way in which these superimposed changes affected the working routines and the day-to-day experiences of prison officers in their aftermath. It argues that, rather than leading to a new dynamic prison service envisaged by the reformers, the prison service instead became more divided and fractious, neither management nor the prison officer body being able to keep control of some of its members, while other officers became merely perfunctory in their work and others developed strategies that undermined the 'each day is different' philosophy now projected by the prison authorities. These resistances to, and subversion of the changes were because prison officer culture, seen by the prison authorities as a barrier to reform, was not destroyed by restructuring but underwent a metamorphosis. It was reformulated and reconfigured to take account of the structural and demographic changes. This then meant that a new prison officer culture emerged, modelled around difference and uncertainty rather than cohesion, antagonism rather than unity. It could lead to deviance and corruption (which the old style prison officer culture had largely prevented) rather than dynamism and efficiency. To undertake the research, the method involved use of questionnaires covering the prison officer body of one typical New Zealand prison, in-depth interviews with 39 prison officers and nine months observation period of the everyday life of the prison officers at this institution. This aspect of the research was stronglyinfluenced by Erving Goffman's dramaturgical perspective. The thesis sets out the theoretical parameters of the research as these relate to prison officer culture, and also provides an account of the methodology and the historical and contemporaneous background to the restructuring. It then provides an empirical analysis that demonstrates the effects of these changes on the everyday work of prison officers. These relate to the way in which the acculturation of the new recruits to the service became problematic because of the confusion brought about by the structural changes and the lack of experienced officers to mentor them. It then demonstrates how 'handling your lag' began to be experienced differently across the officer body, according to their length of service, ethnicity and gender. The old style unity and identity of the prison service was breaking down. This fragmentation was then exemplified by the shift to unit management. This was where power in the prison was now concentrated but, with the prison officer body too weak to regulate its use and with management increasingly distant from day-to-day prison life, this led to unpredictability and corruption. Finally, the thesis shows how many officers tried to adapt to the idea that 'each day in prison was going to be different', as promoted by the prison authorities, by trying to ensure at the same time that each day remained the same: excitement and dynamism could be tolerated only in so far as prison work remained at the same time extraordinarily mundane and routine.</p>

Perceptions of identity management in police-civilian interactions: considering the role of gender and race

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess if in viewing tense, potentially stigmatizing, police-civilian interactions, people bring their own gendered and racial biases, as they form perceptions of officers' use of identity management (IM) strategies, as they relate to officers' competence, warmth and appropriateness of actions.Design/methodology/approachIn two experimental studies, the authors investigate how the IM strategies used by female and racial minority officers impact officers' ratings of competence, warmth and appropriateness of actions. Utilizing a 2x2x4 design, the authors manipulate officer gender (race), civilian gender (race) and IM strategy used by the officer in a news article describing a police-civilian interaction.FindingsNot all IM strategies established positive perceptions of officers. Gender and race effects were observed in how officers were seen when they were involved in a tense interaction with a civilian. Female officers were perceived as more appropriate in their actions than male officers. However, Black, female officers were rated as both less warm and appropriate in their actions than White, female officers.Originality/valueAlthough policing is seen as a tainted profession, officers' use of IM strategies is understudied. By taking a novel lens of stigmatization and IM strategies as they relate to policing, the authors contribute to how officers may manage their identities as they cope with the stigmatized views of their occupation. Findings have implications for the diversification of law enforcement personnel, as well as building trust and legitimacy between officers and the communities they serve.

Visibly better? Testing the effect of ethnic appearance on citizen perceptions of the police

Ethnic minority officers continue to be underrepresented across UK police forces. Further, some ethnic minority groups consistently report lower levels of confidence in police compared to their White British counterparts. Although there is consensus that a more ethnically representative police service is a good idea, there is limited evidence in the UK on how the public perceives officers of different ethnic appearance, and how this relates to trust, confidence and legitimacy. This paper presents findings from an online experiment (n=260) exploring how ethnic appearance affects perceptions of police. Our findings offer rare empirical support for a more ethnically representative police force. First, across respondents, we found that Black officers were perceived significantly more favourably than White or Asian officers. Second, we found that Black respondents had more negative responses to White officers, yet there was little evidence that Black officers elicited more negative reactions from White or Asian respondents. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

Protest policing by black police officers: double marginality and collateral consequences

PurposeDrawing from representative bureaucracy theory, hiring minority police officers has been a perpetual reform recommendation for improving tense police-community relationships with minority communities since the 1960s. The expectation is that minority officers will provide active/symbolic representation, but little is known about minority officers' experiences during racially tense situations. This paper examines whether black officers experienced double marginality in the context of prolonged protests against police in Ferguson, MO in 2014 and compares black vs. nonblack officers' self-assessments about their preparedness to handle the crisis, procedural justice during the crisis and mental and emotional effects on officers following protest policing.Design/methodology/approachIn-depth interviews with 45 police personnel who policed the Ferguson protests provide a rich description of the context and experiences through the lens of police officers. Surveys of 218 officers who conducted protest policing in Ferguson are used to compare the impact on black vs. non-black officers.FindingsThe results provide a detailed portrayal of the double marginality experienced by black officers while policing the Ferguson protests, but also demonstrate that black officers were resilient to the effects of that experience, showing significantly more favorable outcomes than their nonblack peers.Originality/valueThis is the only study to utilize a mixed methods approach with police officers who conducted protest policing to understand officers' experiences in the midst of a racially inflamed context. The findings provide support for policymakers interested in advocating and supporting hiring more minorities in policing.

Police Stress and Race: Using General Strain Theory to Examine Racial Differences in Police Misconduct

A large body of research demonstrates the toll stress takes on police. However, with recent high-profile force incidents that have fueled distrust of police especially within minority communities, there is reason to expect that minority officers experience stress differently than their white counterparts. Within the context of Agnew’s (1992) General Strain Theory, this study examines the relationship between police stress and misconduct. As well, since a police stress/anger relationship has been found, we also analyze racial differences in the extent to which negative affect (anger) mediates the stress/outcome relationship. Using data from a survey of over 1,400 police officers working in three large cities in Texas, we find that stress is significantly related to officers’ acts of misconduct within both races. Moreover, there are noticeable differences in the role anger plays in the stress/misconduct relationship among white and minority officers.

Turbulent from the Start: Revisiting Military Politics in Pre-Baʿth Syria

This article reconsiders military politics in Syria prior to the 1963 Baʿthi power grab in light of new sources. I undermine the presumptions that Baʿthi tactics of sectarian favoritism in the armed forces were unprecedented in post-independence Syria. I make the following arguments: first, attempts by the Sunni power elite to tame Syrian minorities were part of a broad sequence of events that spanned several regimes and informed politics in the Syrian officer corps; second, the various military strongmen who ruled Damascus intermittently from 1949 until 1963 distrusted minority officers and relied mainly on fellow Sunnis to exert control in the armed forces; and third, the combination of minority marginalization in Syrian politics and Sunni preferentialism inside the armed forces bred enmity and polarized sectarian relations in the officer corps.

Police integration and support for anti-government violence in divided societies: Evidence from Iraq

How does the demographic makeup of the police affect violent conflict in divided societies? I argue that following a shift in relative group power, integrating the police rank-and-file addresses incentives to rebel by solving a commitment problem between the powerful state and a weaker group. I test this argument using a survey experiment of 800 Baghdad residents. Providing Sunni (minority) respondents with an informational prime that the police are integrated reduces support for anti-government violence. Consistent with the commitment mechanism, Sunnis, but not Shias, who receive the prime are less fearful of future repression by the government. The key mechanism is the way in which officers are distributed. It is more difficult for the state to renege on inclusion when minority officers serve in mixed units rather than being isolated in minority-only units. Patrol-level heterogeneity makes it difficult for the government to withhold equipment or information from officers on the basis of group identity, and makes the state reliant on officers from all groups to serve all parts of the country. Among survey respondents in Baghdad, I find that those who perceive the police as mixed between Sunnis and Shias, but not those who perceive officers to be primarily members of their own sect, are less expectant that the government will try to harm them. This article contributes to research on institutions in divided societies by identifying a form of inclusion which is self-enforcing, improving long-term prospects for peace by resolving underlying insecurities in the shadow of historical conflict.

Does Training Produce Professional Policing?

The chapter uses contemporary policing problems and challenges to evaluate how well training prepares recruits, auxiliaries, detectives, and managers for the police role. It reviews patterns of police corruption, misconduct and complaints against officers and considers whether, and how well, training helps police forces counter such problems. It also notes instances of positive responses to failures of service delivery. The discussion moves on to examine the challenge that diversity poses for the police, both at a cultural level and in respect of the specific experience of female officers, ethnic minority officers, and officers with alternative sexual orientations. The lessons of sickness, stress and injury on duty are considered in relation to how effectively training and supervision helps counter these. A discussion of public confidence and trust is used to address the concept of police legitimacy and to place it in relation to the acquisition of professional competence.

Exploring police-resident racial equality and violent crime

Purpose – Residential segregation based on race/ethnicity is associated with higher crime rates. However, when there is greater diversity within a neighbourhood, there may be less clustering of crime. One sign of such diversity beyond direct measures of racial similarity may be the proportion of minority officers employed by municipal police departments. As such, the purpose of this paper is to test the effect of the proportion of minority police officers on violent crime within minority communities, controlling for residential segregation. Design/methodology/approach – Multi-level modelling of 91 American cities from the 2000 National Neighbourhood Crime Study was used. Findings – It was found that as minority populations within census tracts increase, violent crime also increases; and crime is associated with an increase in segregation. However, racial composition of police departments can moderate the impact that community racial composition has on violent crime. Originality/value – The current findings point to crime control strategies relevant to municipalities which focus on creating neighbourhoods of racial heterogeneity and more diverse police agencies.