The Relationship Between Police Belief Systems and Attitudes Toward Police Practices

Abstract

This article develops the proposition that both ideological and traditional belief systems are present in the occupation of policing. Police professionalism is conceptualized as an explicit, articulated ideology that has emerged to challenge the commonsense beliefs associated with craftsmanship, the world-view of traditional police agencies. The relationship between these world-views and three attitudes toward three traditional police practices—antipathy toward due process, the code of secrecy, and the tendency to resolve citizen confrontations with “street justice”—were assessed. Endorsement of a craftsmanship world-view was associated with favorable attitudes toward each of these practices. Also, endorsement of a professionalism world-view had little effect on the relationships between craftsmanship and attitudes toward these three police practices.