Understanding the culture of craft: lessons from two police agencies

Abstract

When it comes to changing American policing, the police culture is invariably a target for reform. However, characterizations of traditional police attitudes and beliefs as suspicious of outsiders, authoritative, and at odds with the law, often overlook what police officers themselves value about the work they do, that is what constitutes its quality. Using survey data from two police departments, this paper seeks to understand the contours of the police craft culture. Our findings suggest a more textured assessment of police culture is warranted than the ‘warrior’ outlook implies. While some of the views of our respondents were consistent with features of the traditional police culture, officers did not display the kind of cynicism about the public, rush to judgment, preoccupation with coercive tactics, indifference to rules and regulations, and deep skepticism about science consistent with this portrayal of the police. We then consider how these insights might be used by those seeking to improve street-level police work.