Police Culture

POLICE CULTURE Police culture has for over half a century attracted interest from academics, students, policy-makers, police institutions and the general public. However, the literature of this area has proven to be diverse, sprawling and prone to contradiction leading to an enthralling yet intricate body of knowledge that, whilst continuing to provoke interest and debate, has largely escaped any wider commentary. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the area of police culture primarily by situating it in the context of the literature of POLICE organizational culture. From this starting point, the idea of police culture is developed as an occupationally-situated response to the TOM COCKCROFT uniqueness of the police role and one in which our understanding is, at times, hindered by the challenges of definitional, operational and analytical concerns. The book then charts the development of our CULTURE understanding of the concept, through traditional explanations to the contemporary, highlighting in turn the tensions that exist between the THEMES AND CONCEPTS elements of continuity in the police world and those of change. Police Culture: Themes and Concepts draws on research from the 1950s to the twenty-first century from the UK, USA and elsewhere to show how the historical trajectory of police work from its early origins through to the late modern present has imbued it with a complexity that is undermined by deterministic explanations that seek to simplify the social world of the police officer. This book will be of interest to academics, practitioners and students studying the sociology of policing. Tom Cockcroft is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Law and Criminal Justice Studies, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. His areas of publishing and research interest are criminal justice, policing and occupational culture. Criminology/Law Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 01:37 24 May 2016 Cover images:© Shutterstock www.routledge.com TOM COCKCROFT Police Culture Police culture has for over half a century attracted interest from academics, students, policy-makers, police institutions and the general public. However, the literature of this area has proven to be diverse, sprawling and prone to contradiction, leading to an enthralling yet intricate body of knowledge that, whilst continuing to provoke interest and debate, has largely escaped any wider commentary. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the area of police culture primarily by situating it in the context of the literature of organizational culture. From this starting point, the idea of police culture is developed as an occupationally situated response to the uniqueness of the police role and one in which our understanding is, at times, hindered by the challenges of definitional, operational and analytical concerns. The book then charts the development of our understanding of the concept, through traditional explanations to the contemporary, highlighting in turn the tensions that exist between the elements of continuity in the police world and those of change. Police Culture: Themes and Concepts draws on research from the 1950s to the twenty-first century from the UK, USA and elsewhere to show how the historical trajectory of police work from its early origins through to the late modern present has imbued it with a complexity that is undermined by deterministic explanations that seek to simplify the social world of the police officer. This book will be of interest to academics, practitioners and students studying the sociology of policing. Tom Cockcroft is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Law and Criminal Justice Studies, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. His areas of publishing and Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 01:37 24 May 2016 research interest are criminal justice, policing and occupational culture. Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 01:37 24 May 2016 Police Culture Themes and concepts Tom Cockcroft Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 01:37 24 May 2016 First published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2013 Tom Cockcroft The right of Tom Cockcroft to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Cockcroft, Tom. Police culture : themes and concepts / Tom Cockcroft.—1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Police—Social aspects. I. Title. HV7921.P555 2012 306.2'8—dc23 2012010327 ISBN 13: 978–0–415–50257–3 hbk ISBN 13: 978–0–415–50259–7 pbk ISBN 13: 978–0–203–10115–5 ebk Typeset in Times New Roman by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 01:37 24 May 2016 For Ulanda and Tegan with love. Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 01:37 24 May 2016 Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 01:37 24 May 2016 Contents Acknowledgements viii Introduction 1 1 Organizational and occupational cultures 4 2 Occupational culture and policing 16 3 Police culture: traditional approaches 46 4 Police culture(s): explaining variation 79 5 Researching police culture 104 6 Managing police culture 119 Conclusion 146 References 152 Index 165 Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 01:37 24 May 2016 Acknowledgements The writing of this book has been made an altogether easier process through a wide range of support. I am very grateful to have been granted study leave by Canter- bury Christ Church University for three months in the academic year 2010/2011, and colleagues from the Department of Law and Criminal Justice Studies have been a valued source of ideas, advice and friendship. Iain Beattie’s encyclopedic knowledge of obscure pieces of police research has proved an invaluable resource for several years now, and I thank him for his willingness to share it so generously. On the publishing side, Nicola Hartley at Routledge patiently coaxed me towards my deadline and was incredibly helpful throughout. The ongoing encouragement of my parents Keith Cockcroft and Jane Hopkins and brother Graham has, like- wise, been greatly appreciated. Whilst many friends and loved ones have helped to sustain my enthusiasm over the year or so when I actually wrote the book, some deserve a less perfunctory mention. Ged Denton has proved a relentless source of friendship and laughter since our misspent youth. The greatest acknowledgements, however, must go to my wife Ulanda and my daughter Tegan. I received the book’s contract the same week that we learned of Ulanda’s pregnancy, and the writing process has been punctuated by all those things in life that really matter. For my absences, both physical and mental, I thank you for your patience and support. Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 01:37 24 May 2016 Introduction This book is about police culture, a subject which, as broadly criminological concepts go, remains something of an anomaly. As Westmarland (2008) notes, whilst essentially an academic term, it has become widely accepted as a means of referring to what are generally considered problematic areas of policing and police behav- iour. Despite having significance for academics, policy-makers, practitioners and members of the public alike, the cultural elements of police work and police institutions have failed to attract significant attention in any ordered way. Whilst scholastic work into police culture has generated a number of monographs, and an even larger number of academic papers spanning a period of over 50 years, there has been little attention paid to providing some kind of overview of the area. This is not particularly surprising. The subject area of police cultural studies (if it can be called that) is, at one level, loosely held together by a multitude of definitions, methodologies, disciplinary orientations and focuses. In part, its fragmented nature parallels that of McLaugh- lin and Muncie’s (2006) depiction of criminology as a cross-disciplinary endeavour where the lack of a common language has led to a vibrant academic community from a variety of intellectual foundations. This, in turn, has meant that the subject area of police culture has benefited from the insights of a wide array of perspectives and intellectual orientations focused upon a relatively narrow range of issues. Somewhat ironically, and despite the broad and flexible parameters of the subject area, recent years have seen commentary move towards a more critical appraisal of the state of this academic subject area. In particular, there is a hint that the area is, in some respects, trading on past glories rather than developing new intellectual ground. Whilst this is not wholly justified, especially in the light of more recent work, the ceaseless politicization of policing and the emergence of new police Downloaded by [University of Defence] at 01:37 24 May 2016 scandals against the backdrop of a changing society lend weight to calls for a rein- vigoration of what is becoming an ever more complex set of concepts. Whilst this book in no way should be seen as advocating what McLaughlin and Muncie (2006, p. xiii) suggest as a ‘discursive unification’ of the subject area, what it does aim to do is to highlight its origins, its development and the practical, conceptual and analytic challenges that have become associated with it over recent decades.

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