The Influence of Police Culture

The Influence of natural law CultureIn order to appropriately address the study of discussion, firstlyly, it is both-important(prenominal) to understand what is meant by the concept jurisprudence contract assimilation. After establishing its definition, it then be deigns a task to assess whether practice of law culture does indeed reserve a negative exercise on the means the patrol work as an institution or whether it only if ensures that a certain level of concurrence in achieved in foothold of the way guardmans conduct themselves in their nonchalant working environment.The term practice of law culture has in itself been a topic of rigorous to discussion with sociologists being divided over what the definition should and should not include as at that place isnt an constituted, concrete definition of the concept. For example unrivaled contributor who has attempted to rectify this problem is Reiner (1992) who describes it as the value, norms, perspectives and craft rules which aver legal philosophy conduct (Reiner 1992 quoted in Loftus 2009 3). Whereas another definition comes from Manning (1989) who defines it as pass judgment pr inciteices, rules, and principles of conduct that be situationally applied, and generalized rationales and beliefs (Manning 1989 quoted in Loftus 2009 3). Although these definitions dont appear too distinct at first glance, thither is in f process a clarify distinction amidst the two that should and essential(prenominal) be made generally the fact that Manning stresses that such principles of conduct are situationally applied, which of assembly line suggests that police culture is not always necessarily influential to an officers conduct. Some officers croupe and do hold a certain level of professionalism when taking to the streets and all set which whitethorn corrupt such professionalism trunk behind closed doors in the company of their colleagues only. Yet Reiners provided definition suggest s that the police culture remains with the police officer when they take to the streets and he/she then en force-outs the informal rules which moderate been established with their fellow colleagues, which generalises that all police officers act in accordance to the police culture . However what must be taken from both definitions is that there is reason to suggest that there is a network of a shared appear set of norms and values within police forces which could potentially grow an outlet on how they operate in a working environment.What as well must be stressed is that there is also a distinction between the terms police culture or cop culture (as its other than known) and cigaretteen culture which is another concept which crops up term and time again in countless criminology texts. Canteen culture, as mentioned by Waddington (1999), is soundless to be the norms and values held by police officers whilst off-duty, whereas police culture is the norms and values which are ex pressed during the course of their occupational lives (Waddington 1999 cited by Crank 2004 16-17) freshburn (2007) also makes this a key point by explaining that there is a commonality tendency to assume that what police choose to say and how they choose to act when off-duty is not only indicative of how police officers think, but also how they act in public. (Newburn 2007 216) Yet Waddington has a problem with such assumptions, as he claims that this is not the case all of the time. The way officers act and the views they hold whilst off-duty, whether in the pub with friends or work colleagues is but a safety valve to fall by the wayside the pressures of the realities of life as a police officer (Waddington quoted by Newburn 2007 618) such(prenominal) an argument claims that in experiencing roughwhat controversial views outside of the working sphere, a person is opened up to new perspectives which sociologists such as Waddington would wall helps to avoid them from being over-ex posed to a particular ideology which could then influence the way in which they carry out their duties. But what also must be considered is fair how valid Waddingtons argument actually is. Yes, of course in some instances exposure to different attitudes and values can be adept to an officer in terms of becoming more aware of the gap of potential new threats, but there are also some officers who would then, due to any extreme views which they may have been subjected to, may tush an individual or a group of people because of the stereotypes attached to such persons and not because of genuine distrust.Police culture, it is claimed by Reiner (1992) has many characteristics in which it can be identified with, with suspicion being sound one of them. perplexity is an absolute necessity in the police force as it is suspicion that helps the police prevent crimes from occurring and therefore everyday working experiences encourage officers to generalise people into particular labels, wh ether or not this is a legitimate way to suspect possible offenders (Reiner cited by Newburn 2007 618). Unfortunately there is a unfluctuating link between suspicion and ethnicity, with ethnic minorities suspected to engage in criminal activity more than people of white ethnic origin. The 2005/2006 substructure Office statistics relating to police searches provide a great example for this. In interpreting the results of stop and search practices, 15.4% of the entire UK Black community were halt under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE Code A) in comparison to only 1.6% of the entire white population. This discrimination however doesnt just end with the police it branches out into other areas of the criminal justice ashes such as the prison service. Genders Player in (1989) claimed that prison officers sometimes use active stereotypes and labels to help order their working environments by predicting bunco game deportment in order to maintain authority at all times . Prisoners within the ethnic minority demographic were perceived as having a chip on their shoulder, as they felt they were being victims of racial persecution and hence the officers paid more attention to monitoring their behaviour.Arguably the well-nigh snarled characteristic of a police culture in terms of the encounter it has on police and community relations is the element of racial prejudice. unity of the most notable examples of racial prejudices derives within the Macpherson Report (1999), arguably the most notable constitution in criminology, which followed the death of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. The report found that the police were institutionally racist after discovering that police were ignoring all important(p) evidence to the investigation and were displaying discrimination in the interviewing process of suspects suggesting that it was black on black crime, despite Lawrences friend (an eye witness) being adamant that it was a racially motivated murder. Despite the findings of the report and the provisions set out to try and avoid the recurrence of racial controversy within the police, there is evidence to claim minority ethnic recruitment still remains low and there are still continuing problems in terms of police relations with ethnic minorities (Croall 2011 221-222). The aftermath of the Macphereson Report get upd that institutional racial discrimination was still rife in police recruitment centres, as four years onwards a BBC documentary titled cryptical Policeman was aired which centred on the police recruitment centre, Bruche which was located just outside of Warrington. Consequently after the footage of the documentary went public, the centre was forced to close so as to not further damage the reputation of the police. New police training systems were also introduced nationwide to try and expel racism from the police force as a result of the documentary. (The Observer 2004)How officers are socialised is of another great s ignificance. The next characteristic of a police culture is the degree of solidarity, and it is this element which although is reinforced in numerous police forces, it is an aspect which is initially developed between candidates during the recruitment stages. Due to the penetrative nature of the job including the long hours which officers are required to work, the intensity of some of the work and the expectation of being the ones to prevent social decline, officers are advance to bond strongly and they learn to rely on one another, and as such tend to develop an us-against-them attitude. This resulting mentality, in some situations, leads to not officers reservation pacts with one another in which they agree not to grass on fellow officers for any discrepancies that they might have witnessed whilst on duty. This is more ordinarily known as The Blue Code of Silence. Just like any other subculture, in order to ensure cooperation and commitment to the Blue Code, a tribal value sys tem is implemented which makes police culture categorisation of like a family structure in which members of the system will soak up emotional support and security from the other officers upon requirement. Several police departments world-wide have been found to have followed the Blue Code, probably most notably was a New York police department which the Mollen Commission reported were to be covering up infringements of their officers. In such case where an officer was to bruise the Code, then his/her reputation and essentially his career too would be ruin as he/she would then be ostracised and labelled a whistleblower and thus it is the threat of this tarnished reputation that encourages the officer to obey the unwritten rules. (Loftus 2009 14)Accusations of undue force by members of the police force are far from uncommon, specially in America. And it is the use of excessive for which Manning (1970) claims is a perfect example of police culture and how it can have a negativ e influence on the way officers carry out their duties. (Manning 1970 cited by Crank 2004 107) However, excessive force is not detected in all cases. Victims of police brutality may feel that the odds are stacked against them in filing a complaint to an officers superiors and are thus reluctant to do so and may feel that even if a complaint is acknowledged and results in a court case, the judge and jury would overlook excessive force as the perceived perspective would be that the victim shouldnt have gotten his/herself in a position in which the use of force was needed in the first place and thus the consequences of their anti-social behaviour was deserve. Yet with that said, there are of course examples where the victim of police brutality are non-deserving of such treatment and thus the police force as a whole have come under criticism despite it being a minority of officers that put down in such excessive violence. For example a British police constable, PC Simon Harwood, was c harged with the manslaughter of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests in 2009. Tomlinson was finding another route planetary house after his usual route was blocked by the protests when he was afflicted by PC Harwood with a baton and then pushed to the ground Tomlinson fatally collapsed and an autopsy revealed the cause of death was a heart attack, which the actions of PC Harwood where no doubt a triggering factor. PC Harwood was acquitted of manslaughter, which only strengthens the argument mentioned antecedently that the courts are sympathetic to the police when the question of reasonable/excessive force is raised. However, it must be stressed that many police forces do have provisions in place to deal with any complaints of unacceptable behaviour regarding their employees in which inquiries will be carried out and, if found guilty, the officer in question may be reprimanded, suspended or permanently dismiss depending on the circumstances. Also, as in the case of PC Harwood th ey may also, if necessary, character criminal prosecution or at the very least prospect a civil hearing if the victim wishes to sue for damages caused by the officers ill-considered actions.But how are the police able to get absent with these kinds of infringements? Again, it all relates back The Blue Code of Silence. As already mentioned precedent in the essay, officers of some police forces claim ignorance of any wrongdoings of their work partners and in some cases, they testily which is typically an American slang term for when an officer gives false testimony in court. Relating back to the tribal values, not take part in activities such as testilying would lead to an officer being shunned and sometimes even harassed to the point of retirement as they arent assisting their family members, in achievement betraying their own kind.In 1994, the Mollen Commission found that some officers within the NYPD fabricated crucial documents such as arrest reports and warrants and some o fficers were found to have falsified witness statements for the purposes of manipulating the jury as they felt that an incriminate individual deserved it. This is particularly common in cases of bad character in which an accused has had a history of offences but has escaped punishment. Although corrupt as it is, testilying is merely seen as another way of getting the job done.In conclusion, there is a huge interest towards police culture due to the move it can and sometimes does have on society. if it is to have an influence on the way the police go about their work. The police hold a fortuneively important role to society as they are a visible symbol of law and order and are granted diverse powers such as those which enable them to arrest members of the public who they feel prove a threat to the rest of society. Although most officers do operate in a reasonable manner, it is generally the actions of the minority which enable the public to misconceive that all officers are bigo ted and aggressive. Such generalisations lead to a mass distrust of the police and tensions then begin to occur between the police and their publics. You only need to look at the summer riots of 2011 (which were reported to have been sparked by an officers seemingly unauthorised use of deadly force on a suspect) to see just how damaging poor police-community relations can be to the polices image as a social institution.