Police Personality: Unique Traits vs. Socialization

Introduction

Just as with any profession, the men and women who join the ranks of the "Thin Blue Line" generally have very specific reasons for doing so. While these personal reasons are as varied as the individuals themselves, there are a sufficient number of commonalities among those who pursue a career in law enforcement to draw some broad generalizations about the profession. To this end, this paper reviews the relevant literature to develop a concept of "police personality" in general, as well as a distinction between those unique traits that may reflect a natural aptitude for this career field and an examination of how socialization and experience on the job shape these traits. A summary of the research and salient findings is provided in the conclusion.

Background and Overview

Because resources are by definition scarce, the ability to identify those individuals most likely to succeed in a given field based on specific personality traits and natural aptitude has assumed new importance in human resources in recent years (Zeidner & Johnson, 1991). These considerations become even more significant when taxpayer funds are involved, as in the case of costly police academies designed to train the next generation of law enforcement officers (Laurence, Ramsberger, & Sellman, 1991).

Further compounding the problem for researchers is the fact that certain career fields in America have traditionally been viewed as "dream jobs" by young people. Many children in the United States grow up thinking they want to be a firefighter, police officer, or astronaut because of the perceived glamour and excitement associated with these professions. Unfortunately, the reality of police work in particular makes a career decision based on such well-intentioned but misguided ambitions a potentially dangerous enterprise. A discussion of which personal attributes and traits successful police officers typically bring to the profession, and how these are cultivated once on the job, is provided below.

General Concepts of Police Personality

According to Pervin (1990), a long-standing concept in personality theory concerns the manner in which traits are patterned within individual personality — in other words, how the elements or traits that comprise the basic building blocks of personality are organized into higher-order types or dimensions. An individual's aptitude for law enforcement would therefore relate to those traits that contribute to a desire to pursue a career in a potentially dangerous but socially significant profession.

While researchers have identified certain gender, cultural, and racial differences in the reasons people have cited for wanting to become police officers (Farr, Schuler, & Smith, 1993), some general traits are consistently present: a desire to help others — particularly the disadvantaged (Lott, 2000); a basic need to see good triumph over evil (Kurke & Scrivner, 1995); and, increasingly since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, a desire to help protect the nation.

Nature versus Nurture: Socialization and On-the-Job Experience

An individual's skill as a police officer is a direct function of both aptitude and training (Kurke & Scrivner, 1995). The manner in which police officers are traditionally socialized, however, involves a wide range of factors, and primarily relates to a well-recognized hierarchy in which tenure and experience take priority over all other considerations. For example, in her book Women and Men Police Officers: Status, Gender, and Personality, Gwendolyn L. Gerber (2001) studied 75 precincts in a major metropolitan area and 154 police teams to determine whether male and female police officers appeared to have different personality traits — largely because male officers typically hold higher status than women in American society. This investigation made clear that the personalities individuals adopt are fluid, and that the status model of police personalities suggests that officers' perceptions of their own traits vary with their status. "The critical test of the model involves individual status," she notes, "the status of each officer vis-à-vis the partner" (p. 39).

While everyone is probably familiar with the "good cop–bad cop" interrogation technique used in motion pictures and television productions, this dichotomy of personalities is actually a recognizable characteristic of police personalities in practice, even if not to the same theatrical degree or purpose (Gerber, 2001).

Based on the status model of personality, there is a distinct pecking order in place in virtually all police departments across the country that helps initiate newcomers to the profession. New recruits who ignore this hierarchy do so at their peril. According to Gerber, the high-status officer in each partnership type will be perceived as having more instrumentally oriented — that is, dominating and goal-driven — traits, while the low-status officer will be viewed as having more expressive traits. In addition, the status model predicts that officers' perceptions of their personality traits will be affected by group status — the overall standing of their partnership in relation to other types of partnerships (Gerber, 2001).

In her review of Gerber's analysis, Monago (2003) suggests that the study demonstrated that sex category and work experience played instrumental roles in personality adjustments. "For instance," Monago observes, "her [Gerber's] data revealed that years of work experience or seniority was the most salient factor for the establishment of the senior and most instrumental police officer on same-sex police teams"; however, sex category represented the most salient factor on male-female police teams as well as for outside observers, such as a police supervisor (2003, p. 195).

Conclusion

The research showed that men and women become police officers for many of the same reasons that people seek a career in any other helping profession: job security, decent wages and benefits, and a clear career path. There are also other compelling reasons involved in this decision that are as varied as the individuals themselves. The salient findings that emerged from the research suggest that most police officers in the United States today share a desire to help others, a desire for the respect and dignity associated with the profession, and a fundamental commitment to contributing to their communities.