“The Right Way, the Wrong Way, and the Blueville Way”: Standards and Cultural Match in the Police Organization

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article examines how actors within an organization draw meaning from their local setting in ways that ultimately hinder institutional efforts toward standardization. Using a case study of a public sector organization that is inundated with standards—a police department—this analysis develops a standards-as-culture lens to show how local conditions inform the cultural resources police officers deploy. It is argued that individuals connect features of their community with repertoires of uniqueness—what they call “the Blueville Way”—to perform, justify, and sustain a sense of nonconformity with political measures meant to standardize the provision of policing services. Data for this study include 100 interviews and field notes gathered over an 18 month period spent with a police department in headquarters, patrol cars, and the streets. This article contributes an account of the significance of “cultural match” in law enforcement: perceptions and practices are driven by the socioeconomic context in which an organization is embedded, thereby impeding full compliance with industry standards that are deemed locally incompatible.