Creating the thin blue line: Social network evolution within a police academy

Abstract

Whenever major schisms between police and communities come to public attention, there are always passionate calls for an increased emphasis on - and improvement of - police training. This rhetoric is so common that police leaders joke that there is no societal problem so big that it can’t be fixed by better police training. Still, professional socialization in law enforcement remains an important topic with a great deal of resources being devoted to developing initiatives and augmenting existing curricula. This training comes in many forms including learning the nuts and bolts of many legal processes and acquiring the practical skills for law enforcement. However, beyond this, there is a socialization process with multiple facets including the development of solidarity and trust among a cohort of recruits. We attempt to understand the basic mechanisms of network creation in police academies as the foundation of the socialization processes within them. By focusing on these network mechanisms underlying the establishment of the ‘Thin Blue Line’, we offer an understanding of the underlying social processes foundational for the transmission of police culture. In short, we think the recruit network structure functions as a vehicle for cultural transmission within police academies.