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Qualitative Findings II: Becoming and Being a Cop

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Police Socialisation, Identity and Culture

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Abstract

On becoming a police officer, the new recruits were asked about the characteristics of a ‘good’ police officer, their motivations for joining the service and whether, and at what stage, they identified themselves as a police officer. Discussions of being a police officer focus upon both the external behavioural adaptations to the recruits’ new role and their internal adaptations to their sense of ‘self’ through their potentially altered identities. Further areas of questioning considered the areas of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The new recruits were also explicitly asked what they felt were the characteristics of the policing culture. This provides an analysis of what they feel police culture is and what the impact of such a heavily value-laden term might have upon them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

    Sarah Charman

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  1. Sarah Charman
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Charman, S. (2017). Qualitative Findings II: Becoming and Being a Cop. In: Police Socialisation, Identity and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63070-0_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63070-0_10

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63069-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63070-0

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