Police Subculture: Causes, Traits, and Paths to Reform
This paper examines police subculture—the shared beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that define law enforcement as an occupational group. It identifies loyalty, cynicism, moral conservatism, and an "us versus them" worldview as core components, while exploring how these traits are transmitted through academy training practices such as storytelling, drills, and marching. The paper discusses how media portrayals and negative news coverage reinforce public mistrust and, in turn, deepen subcultural insularity. It also considers how factors such as race, socioeconomic class, and educational background shape public perceptions of police. Finally, the paper proposes reform strategies—including policy changes, accessible wellness resources, counseling, and leadership commitment—to address the harmful dimensions of police subculture without abandoning its constructive elements.
- Introduction to Police Subculture: Defines police subculture and its us-vs-them dynamic
- Key Components of Police Subculture: Examines loyalty as a core, context-dependent value
- How to Correct the Flaws in Police Subculture: Proposes policy, counseling, and leadership reforms
- The Role of the Media and Public Perception: Analyzes how TV and news shape police perception
- Police Officer Behavior and Its Contribution to Subculture: Traces how academy training reproduces subcultural traits
- Conclusion: Calls for leadership-driven cultural change in policing
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its argument in cited academic sources (Skolnick, Conti, Loftus, Twersky-Glasner) while maintaining an accessible, essay-style voice that balances theory with practical recommendations.
- It presents both the constructive and harmful dimensions of police subculture fairly, avoiding a one-sided critique and acknowledging that traits like loyalty can be virtuous or vicious depending on context.
- The reform section is concrete and actionable, moving beyond diagnosis to recommend specific institutional changes such as mandatory counseling, policy reform, and leadership modeling.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective synthesis of multiple scholarly perspectives. Rather than relying on a single authority, the writer draws on criminologists, sociologists, and law enforcement researchers to build a layered argument about how subculture forms, persists, and can be reformed. This multi-source synthesis is supported by brief but precise in-text citations that attribute claims clearly without interrupting the essay's flow.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with a conceptual definition of police subculture, then narrows to its key components (loyalty, cynicism, insider/outsider thinking). A reform-focused section proposes institutional remedies. Two subsequent sections examine external influences—media portrayals and public perception—before turning to how the subculture is reproduced through recruit training. A brief conclusion ties the argument together with a call for leadership-driven cultural change. The structure moves logically from description to analysis to prescription.
Introduction to Police Subculture
The set of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors followed by members of law enforcement constitutes what is referred to as police subculture. Owing to the nature of their job, most police officers tend to view members of the general public as potential suspects, untrustworthy, and even potentially hostile. Police officers expect support from their colleagues. Consequently, an "us versus them" scenario is created, where "us" refers to the police force while "them" refers to the public.
There are both advantages and disadvantages to this dynamic. While the sense of trust created among officers is good for achieving team objectives, the police also hold a mantra that the line between chaos and order is quite thin—that society needs the police if there is to be law and order. This mantra is responsible for the deeply embedded feeling of unity, teamwork, and interdependence among members of the force. Officers believe these values are necessary for the success of police work. On the other hand, the "us versus them" mentality may lead to actions that contravene societal expectations.
Key Components of Police Subculture
While loyalty is not the same as the occupational subculture of the police, it is one of its main features. Loyalty transcends time and place. Members of the police force genuinely value loyalty, even when they come from diverse cultural backgrounds. The common regard for loyalty stems from the fact that it is a key asset for all who must confront a hostile world (Hunt & Magenau, 1993). In such circumstances, loyalty saves lives. It is an important element of both success and safety.
Loyalty, as discussed here, is neither inherently a vice nor a virtue—its moral value is situational. The moral worth of loyalty is determined by the reason for its expression. The selfless loyalty that leads one officer to take risks to save a fellow officer is considered virtuous, since the life of that officer is as valuable as any other human life. On the other hand, loyalty that supports cover-ups is corrupt and vicious. Declining to rescue another officer from a situation that compromises integrity, versus backing up a colleague in genuine danger, are two distinct acts driven by separately distinct motivations. The former serves private interests in the same way that accepting gratuity does, whereas providing backup for an officer at risk—like protecting an innocent civilian—serves the public good.
References
Campbell, M. (2007). Applying communities of practice to the learning police. Learning and Socio-cultural Theory: Exploring Modern Vygotskian Perspectives' Workshop, 1(1). Retrieved from http://ro.uow.edu.au/llrg
Conti, N. (2010). Weak links and warrior hearts: A framework for judging self and others in police training. Police Practice and Research, 12(5), 410–423.
Davis, M. (1996). Police, discretion, and professions. In J. Kleinig (Ed.), Handled with Discretion: Ethical Issues in Police Decision Making (pp. 1–35). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Hunt, R. G., & Magenau, J. M. (1993). Power and the Police Chief. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Loftus, B. (2010). Police occupational culture: Classic themes, altered times. Policing & Society, 20(1), 1–20.
Malmin, M. (2012). Changing police subculture. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin.
Newburn, T., & Reiner, R. (2007). Policing and the police. In M. Maguire, R. Morgan, & R. Reiner (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (4th ed., pp. 910–952). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Skolnick, J. (2008). Enduring issues of police culture and demographics. Policing & Society, 18(1), 35–45.
Twersky-Glasner, A. (2005). Police personality: What is it and why are they like that? Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 20(1).
Willis, D. S. (2010). Focus on training: The practice of spirituality and emotional wellness in law enforcement. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 19.
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