Importance of Building Trust between Police and the Communities They Serve: Analytical Essay

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”Police culture is where values, beliefs and norms are shared among police officers, which help them to understand the world and their role in it” (Valcore, 2018). This report will expand on the theory of Police Culture and explain how police officers see the social world, as well as, the role they partake in society. By discussing how police culture influences the role of the police in society including both the positive and negative aspects of the police culture including how the police are perceived by society. This report is structured into four sections; an understanding of police officers, how they see the social world and their role in it. Section 2 will be discussing ‘Cop Culture’, Section 3 will consider the positives and the final section will argue the negative aspects.

“The job of a police officer can be both mentally and physically exhausting. As such, officers rely on one another for emotional and physical support.” (Paoline III 2018). Police officers deal with situations that are traumatising, therefore, it is important that police officers support each other when dealing with confrontational individuals that could become distressing, this creates attachment with fellow officers as you build strong relationships through stressful incidents.“Tactical team members are trained to depend on each other. They are trained to entrust their lives to each member of the team. Likewise each one is required to safeguard the lives of their teammates”. Holbrook (2018). Officers begin to build relationships with one another due to the severity of what they go through together. Whether it is a tactical team or policing team they both create the same bond, once they enter a life risking situation you are gaining more than trust which then escalates into stronger friendships. Officers begin to build relationships with one another due to the severity of what they go through together. Whether it is a tactical team or policing team they both create the same bond, once they enter a life risking situation you are gaining more than trust which then escalates into stronger friendships. As a society they may perceive this as a positive thing, when police come together and build stronger relationships between them this will have an impact on their performance. Officers may perform exceptional well as they have a supportive team which will help build trust between Police and the Communities they serve.

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“Cop culture has been defined as a developed pattern of understandings and behaviour that help officers cope with and adjust to the pressures and tensions confronting the police” (Reiner 2000). Many of the Cop Culture connotations are negative due to the publics negative perspective of the police service. The culture is embedded within the police force with informal ‘rules’ , responsibilities and values that are taught to new recruits to aid the learning of police culture. This report will explain the different views of cop culture explaining how there are both positive and negatives of the policing lifestyle.

“There are positive aspects of police culture that should not be understated. Like other occupations, the collectiveness of culture helps too buffer the strains that officers face on a daily basis” (Brown, 1988; Chan, 1996; Waddington, 1999). An example of this is being part of the police family which gives you the ability to know you always have someone on your side and are able to stick together when strain on your workload may occur.

In addition, “the prescriptions of police culture are said to teach new (and continuing) occupational members about the day-to-day components of police work, by experienced officers, in learning the craft of policing” (Manning, 1995; Van Maanen, 1974). This is a positive because it ensures new recruited police officers are engaging with experienced and knowledgeable higher ranking colleagues that will shape new recruits and aid them in facing the reality of real policing.

“Police organisations historically have been male in spirit and gender. Even as late as 1980, only 3.8 percent of all municipal police officers were female” (Martin, 1997). “The past two decades have seen inroads by female officers, and by 1994, 9.3 percent of all officers were female. Of communities with populations exceeding 50,000, 98.5 percent had female officers assigned to field operations” (Martin, 1990). Police culture originally was a male dominant force but over the last few decades there has been an increase in female officers which is effectively changing police culture. “Increasing the numbers of females in police work increases department gender frictions and intensifies cultural resistance” (Martin, 1980). Although the police service is still not equally 50/50 the statistics have improved extremely over the last 50 years. For example the figures include 67.8% male constables and 32.2% as well as 27.4% of the highest ranking officers chief officers being female. (Statisica 2017) By being a more diverse workforce it will help share new ideas and ways of dealing with public. The public benefit from a diverse police service as the more diverse with officers of different genders, colour and religion the better understanding of the different cultural issues. By being deserve this also aids the publics perspective of the police.

Although there are positive aspects to police culture, there may be negative aspects. This is due to the pressures and isolation officers face within the role. Being a police officer is like entering a new family, although loyalty is good in some circumstances when working as a team to a job, loyalty can be used in the wrong ways of hiding somebodies wrong doing and bad tendencies. “Many authors refer to the ‘cop culture’, engendered by the stressful and dangerous nature of police work, which encourages loyalty and means that ignoring the misconduct of fellow officers will earn their trust and support” (Marché, 2009).

“Whereas loyalty is generally a desirable characteristic for a police officer, if it is ranked above integrity then it is a misplaced loyalty which makes police reluctant to “rat on colleagues (Miller 2010) It is typically referred to as the “Blue code of silence” and officers have a fear of retribution to report colleagues misdemeanour due to the repercussions it may have. The most prolific example in the UK is the Hillsborough disaster, ‘A report published in 2012 also found that police covered up their role in the disaster by altering witness statements, their notes, and other evidence after the fact”. (Tasch 2016) The public may lose trust within the police and also question the police services existence. When corruption occurs the pubic will lose hope in the police as they are going against what it stands for. One of the polices main values in every force is honesty and integrity. If employed officers can not share these values then it is hypocritical of the organisation to employ officers who lie and who choose to do what is not expected of them. The public will then perceive the police as untrustworthy and unreliable resulting in loss of faith in the service.

Another negative of police culture is the emotional impact on officers. “Emotional control allows officers to respond instrumentally to a variety of potentially traumatic situations, but it may also lead to emotional detachment from other aspects of daily life that are unrelated to the job” (Finn 2000 and Kirschman 2013). An officer will witness face some disturbing jobs. When repeatedly dealing with confrontation, death and other emotional situations it can impact the emotional response to things outside of work. This can include family, friends and emotionally overwhelming situations in day to day life. To deal with the situations in work officers learn too detach emotionally. “For male officers in particular, the problem occurs when the emotional detachment is brought home” (Waters & Ussery, 2007). Officers are taught to suppress and ignore natural human emotions. They are likely to become emotionally numb, this is why it’s important for police officers to have a life outside of work too. Officers mental state can be affected with long term illnesses such as PTSD which can affect family life also. “Emotional exhaustion can make it much harder for a law enforcement officer to interact with his or her spouse’ (Roberts & Levenson). These problems can escalate and cause relationships to break apart, with all these problems piling on top of each other it can eventually have a strain on a police officers mental health causing a mental breakdown. “Divorced individuals can have psychological issues such as depression, distress, and poor self-images” (Amato, 2000). “It is obvious to see why individuals dealing with PTSD can’t sleep well, end up irritable, and become hypervigilant. When considering the results, one can surmise that having PTSD can make sustaining a solid marriage a difficult task” (Haisch & Meyers, 2004).

The final negative aspect this report will be focusing on police mentality. The authority provided to police officers can make them feel above other individuals from a law point of view. Police officers tend to socialise with fellow officers because it can sometimes make them socially unaccepted by other members of society. Police officers are trained to be suspicious of most, if not all citizens, they do not believe anything you are told, question everything which may sink into an officers head that much that they separate from an ordinary person creating a barrier between them and the public. “The police culture may also tend to promote an “us-versus-them” mentality in which officers perceive their peers as the only reliable sources of support” (Woody, 2006, p. 99). At work, officers understand each other through what they deal with, it is then tempting for officers to stick to there own and spend more time with those who understand them isolating themselves from people who are not part of the police culture, isolation creates a life based around police and that’s all they become picking their own over their own community and people. Pollock (2008, p. 291) concluded that ”if a police officer feels isolated from the community, then loyalty is to other police officers and not to the community”. Members of the police often separate from society because there unique role in society separates them from the general public, they are under lots of pressure to act black and white due to the powers given to them making them different from ordinary people and to set an example. “Law enforcement officers are distinct from other occupational groups because of their unique social role and status. This often contributes to the development of a distinct police subculture with its own norms and values” (Kappeler, Sluder, & Alpert, 1998). For officers that do socialise with other groups and persons outside the police culture they tend to hide their identity in order to fit it or to have a life that’s separate of policing. “Police officers who do decide to socialise with civilians may even go to the extent of concealing their occupational identity in order to lead a separate social life unmarred by their work, particularly when engaging in what are often deemed acceptable social norms, for example heavy drinking’ (Banton, 1964). Police officers are expected to act professional at all times, even when not wearing the uniform, this makes them conscious of everything at all times making them think who to socialise with and be apart of; “You are expected to use the Code to guide your behaviour at all times – whether at work or away from work, online or offline.”(College of Policing). This is negative as it divides police away from the public even when a police officer will try to fit in socially they can not because of their unique role police impose social isolation upon themselves as a means of protection. Society may perceive police separate from it‘s community they may also turn against the police because they may feel the police are not in their interest.

In conclusion, the police hold huge responsibility in their role in society as they are the symbol of law and order, they are given powers such as the power to arrest if they feel it is appropriate. Officers see things that a normal individual would probably never see in a life-time; “Whether officers deal with a suicide, murder, assault, or even a rape; law enforcement officers see far more disturbing images than the average citizen” (Waters & Ussery, 2007). There is a huge interest in cop culture due to the impact it can have on society. Overall I believe the negative impact is way more severe on society as the public scrutinise police for misconduct and it is heavily broadcasted by the media which makes society believe that the police is corrupt. This then makes people question the authority of the police service. This can spark hatred between the public and the police which then affects how a police officer acts within the role. Cop culture is however also positive for officers supporting one and other. Officers in their line of duty support each other physically and emotionally which creates a bond which others in society do not understand.

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