get your own free home page Police are the most visible component of the branch of government meant to control harmful behavior and to protect the civil liberties of the population. We expect them not only to enforce the law but to act as moral exemplars-to provide by their own behavior a model for the law-abiding citizen. When police disappoint these expectations, we respond with the same mixture of hurt, anger and naughty glee that accompanies the discovery of the preacher committing adultery.
Dorothy H. Bracey, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, from the foreward of Forces of deviance: Understanding the dark side of policing
The existence of an organizational culture in law enforcement agencies is not unique from any other occupation. However, the development of police culture is distinctive to the job. "As law enforcers [the police] are seen as monitors of human conduct, standing over against rather than with their client public and police soon find that this perception interferes with their ability to maintain social relations" (Kleinig, 1996). Police officers often find themselves having to decide between job expectations and those they associate with off-duty. When it is known that a police officer is present in a social situation, the officer must deal with complaints and petitions for help, as well as endure accounts of police misconduct and brutality. Irregular days off and odd shift schedules also contribute to the formation of the police culture. As officers become alienated from the public they serve, the "us versus them" mentality sets in. Officers percieve little support from the communities they work in and believe that they can only rely on other officers for assistance. Group identification is enhanced among officers by their beliefs in the constant danger of police work and the need for unwavering dependence (Kleinig, 1996).
Organizational Structure and Specialized Operations Units
The continual growth of police agencies has created the need to form specialized units. Within larger departments some common specialized units include narcotics, vice, and sex crimes. "The division of labor among police and the departmentalization that characterizes most police agencies present problems and contribute to structurally induced deviance" (Kappeler, Sluder, and Alpert, 1994). Supervisors of specialized units control information that is not accessible by the rest of the organization and only give out such information on a "need-to-know" basis. Establishing specialized units creates an opportunity for specialized deviance. Specialized units experience more autonomy in their everyday operations and develop an expertise for the activities they are involved in. With little oversight or the inability of the organization to oversee the unit's activities can lead to deviant group activities (Kappeler, Sluder, and Alpert, 1994).
Organizational Structure and Opportunities for Internal Deviance
Deviant acts by police officers toward the police organization are considered internal deviance. ". . . [W]hen deviance is directed internally and is intended for a designated target (usually another member of the organization), deviance is guided by the structure of the organization" (Kappeler, Sluder, and Alpert, 1994). Police officers may choose to exploit officers at the lowest levels of the organizational heirarchy. These abuses may come in the the form of domination through sexual exploitation or use of authority to force compliance with illegal organizational activities. Those officers at the lowest levels of the organization may direct their deviance toward the organization as a whole. These officers deviate through resistance to domination by the organization. Also, officers may engage in deception, destruction of property, perjury, and false reporting in an attempt to undermine the agency, organizational members, or the criminal justice system (Kappeler, Sluder, and Alpert, 1994).
Citizen involvement (victimization) by acts of police deviance can be a product of internally motivated deviance. One motivating factor is police resistance to the judicial system. In reaction to plea bargaining and lenient sentences, an officer may stack charges against suspects. ". . . [T]he recipient of police abuse is not always the target of police deviance. Citizens often become the unknowing pawns in the internal struggles of resistance and domination that occur with the police organization or the larger justice system" (Kappeler, Sluder, and Alpert, 1994).
Organizational Structure and Opportunities for External Deviance
The enactment of laws serves the interest of those who were able to influence its creation and therefore only affects a segment of the population. Likewise, only a segment of society influences how these laws are enforced and against whom they are enforced. Scholars have agreed that criminal laws are excessively enforced against the weakest members of society. This law making process is evidenced in the amount of enforcement attention police give to the weakest members of society. Inequality in police action is also evident in delivery of police services. And still others are victimized by police in an "exchange" relationship. Police trade protection services for economic considerations that can come in the form of money, free meals, etc. or an exchange can be made for overlooking violations for the same types of considerations (Kappeler, Sluder, and Alpert, 1994).
References
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