How the interplay between organisational ‘culture’ and ‘climate’ shapes police officers’ perceptions of community policing

This article draws on interview data and the concepts of organisational ‘culture’ and ‘climate’ to critically assess police officers’ perceptions of community policing in one English constabulary. In so doing, it considers the cultural, organisational and wider contextual determinants of officers’ alignment to this style of police work. With an emphasis on developing community partnerships and engaging in problem-solving, rather than enforcement of the criminal law, community policing has been seen a primary way of rendering officers more ‘responsive’ to the needs of citizens, improving police–community relations and driving down crime rates. An important reform movement in police organisations around the world, the success of community policing nonetheless depends on officers’ willingness and ability to deliver it. Accordingly, the generation of evidence about the ‘drivers’ of officers’ attitudes to inform strategies to promote the delivery of the approach is essential. Findings suggest that officers value community policing as an organisational strategy but that the approach maintains a low status and is undervalued compared with other specialisms within the organisation. This is born of an organisational culture that foregrounds law enforcement as the primary function of police work and an organisational climate that reinforces it. This has implications for community officers in terms of their perceptions of and attitudes towards the approach, self-esteem and sense of value and worth, perceptions of organisational justice, discretionary effort and role commitment. Recommendations for police managers are set out.

THE IMPORTANCE OF POLICE ETHICS FOR THE REPUTATION OF THE POLICE IN SOCIETY

Legal state is a democratic creation that is based on legal certainty and rule of law and is a form of state in which all subjects are bound by the law, where it is crucial that this refers to state authorities that have a monopoly over power and directly encroach the sphere of human rights. Acting according to the principle of legally is brought before the police as an imperative of great importance. Although this principle is, without a doubt, primary in the police work, it will not be the central topic of this paper. The goal of the author is to move focus of the paper towards the importance of adhering to ethical principles and standards, basic principles of democratic work of the police, as well as strengthening trust of citizens in the police in order to create safe community with accessible and ethically inclined police that responsibly act together with the community in identifying and solving security issues.

Law enforcement wellness: Promoting the “good” during the “bad” and “ugly”

Wellness and resilience have been at the epicenter of attention amongst many law enforcement researchers, clinicians, and professionals in recent years. Both resilience and wellness aim to provide law enforcement officers with knowledge and effective tools that can be employed during both professional and personal challenges. The current manuscript presents wellness within a context of prevalent conditions and/or situations (i.e., what is called “Good” during the “Bad” and “Ugly”) that law enforcement officers experience as part of their duties as well as in their personal lives. The authors aim to raise awareness of police wellness that needs to be viewed within the context of police work and not in a vacuum. Considering that, tangible actions and recommendations are also discussed.

Riding shotgun – Front-seat research and the socio-material considerations of ethnography on the move

In this article, we explore methodological considerations of using the car as space for ethnographic research on police work. With a socio-material perspective, we are concerned about how the car’s particular materiality and mobility shapes social interaction that takes place within it. We argue that this affects the researcher role, and that the researcher’s spatial position in the car affects the researcher role further. The position’s impact on interaction is made evident when the researcher is ‘riding shotgun’, rather than being placed in the back seat. We argue that this front-seat role comes with increased reciprocity towards the driver/officer, demanding a more (inter) active research practice. Hence, the riding shotgun position potentially increases the empirical input with the closer interaction between the researched and the researcher. More generally, the case illustrates the very delicate considerations of researcher positioning within ethnography on the move.

Lawfare and Security Labor: Subjectification and Subjugation of Police Workers in India

What labor rights do police workers have? How are they legally delimited? This article addresses these questions through a case study of government responses to attempts by police constables in post/colonial South Asia to express job-related grievances and establish employee unions. Drawing on ethnographic observations, interviews, and archival documents collected in India over fifteen years, the analysis demonstrates that, for more than a century, class warfare within police organizations has manifested in counter-insurgency “lawfare” between senior officials and subordinate personnel regarding whether and how the latter may collectively organize to transform their living and working conditions. It further shows how in this context law as a social field has worked to subjectify rank-and-file police as an ironically exploitable and expendable class of laborers who are always already suspect of rebelling against the state that they have sworn to serve. Through revelations of a long history of structural servitude compelling subaltern police in South Asia to do questionably legal types of labor, this study raises challenging questions about how police work has been conceived and practiced globally as “security labor” and how, moving forward, we must work to reimagine what police work is, what it can be, and what it ought to be.

Udviklingen af kynisme fra politistuderende til betjent

The literature shows that some police officers develop cynicism early in their careers, i.e., develop a critical or distrusting attitude that is often aimed towards citizens. Despite a recent increase in societal focus on how citizens experience interaction with the police, we have only a limited understanding of how cynicism develops in Scandinavia, including Denmark. In this study, we present statistical analyses of questionnaire data collected among police employees in three waves between the beginning of their training to become police officers and after four years of active service. The results demonstrate that cynicism should be approached as a multi-faceted phenomenon. This is because participants generally report a decrease in cynicism towards citizens, but an increase in cynicism in connection with other aspects of police work. Post hoc analyses, however, indicate that high emotional demands, as well as violence and threats may contribute to an increased cynicism towards citizens.