Getting Things Right for Policing: Cultural Shift or Elitist Sop?
| Author | Michael McManus |
| Published date | 01 April 1997 |
| Date | 01 April 1997 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X9707000203 |
DETECTIVE INSPECTOR MICHAEL McMANUS, Ph.D, SA
Durham Constabulary; Hon. Research Fellow, Dept Sociology
and
Social Policy, Durham University
GETTING THINGS RIGHT FOR
POLICING: CULTURAL SHIFT OR
ELITIST SOP?
Introduction
The general principle of equality has become a high priority for the British
Police Service and this is clearly reflected in the semantics currently used
by police personnel. It is no longer politically correct to use the collective
term "policemen", for this precludes the existence of "policewomen".
Equitably, the term "police officer" must now be used by members of the
organization. Attempts are also being made by the police to redress the
inequalities of rank. It is now usual to hear statements regarding the
importance of front-line officers - constables and sergeants. It is said they
should be recognized as no less important to the police function than the
chief constable himself! Such commentary concerning cultural shifts of
principle infer that, to the extent that the sense of significant membership
of the police depends on one's place on the prestige ladder of the
organization, the culture of elitism functions to distribute unequally the
sense of significant membership in the organization.
It is, of course, good news if the police service has finally realized that
enabling self-criticism in all its forms is not some sort of danger but a
positive way of ensuring a more effective service to the community. But
police personnel need to be comfortable in the organization's culture,
especially front line officers who have an extensive menuof responsibilities
and a large degree of discretion. They suffer competing and conflicting
demands and are required to rely on their individual skills, judgment and
initiative to make decisions, often spontaneously. They suffer emotional
demands and physical dangers and at the same time are required to maintain
the highest standards of honesty, integrity and fairness.
Traditional Military Culture
Many police officers are not comfortable with the police culture because
it is influenced by a military tradition which has its history in the British
Army. Both services, military and police, produce an elite class of officer:
the commissioned officer in the army, the ranks of inspector and above in
the police service. Police constable and police sergeant can clearly be
equated respectively with the ranks of private and sergeant in the army. But
the personal differentials in prestige and esteem which exist between the
ranks in the police service have recently been brought into question.
Influential sectors of the police service now believe that the type of
organizational culture required for police effectiveness does not presently
exist.
April 1997 The Police Journal 99
To continue reading
Request your trial