Police Personality: Need for a New Approach

Police Personality: Need for a New Approach

Bushara Bano, Parvaiz Talib
Copyright: © 2012 |Pages: 10
DOI: 10.4018/jgc.2012010103
OnDemand:
(Individual Articles)
Available
$37.50
Current Special Offers
No Current Special Offers
TOTAL SAVINGS: $37.50

Abstract

Police personnel are often termed as authoritarian, cynical, psychopathological, rude and submissive. On the other hand, they are said to be responsible, determined and dedicated. People have conflicting stereotypes for personality traits of police. The paper analyses the concept of police personality. The paper investigates on the basis of qualitative research whether personality of police is same as other non-police persons or they possess different personality profiles. The paper also critically analyses the contribution of predispositional and socialization factors in the development of working personality within police population. The findings reveal that the phenomenon is not well investigated by the existing studies. The paper suggests the researchers to investigate the concept of police personality more extensively as the available data is ambiguous in nature.
Article Preview

“...There are officers who are ‘experts at turning parking tickets into riots’ as well as officers who can arrest extremely dangerous suspects and ‘leave em laughing’. To say we know both types of officers exist, however, is not to say that we know anything systematic about their personal characteristics or methods.” (Braithwaite, 1996, p. 2)

Top

The Police Personality: Myth Or Reality

Personality is the unique organization of characteristics that define an individual and determine that person’s pattern of interaction with the environment (Kleinmuntz, 1982). As discussed in introduction, the concept of police personality refers to the question as to whether there is evidence for describing policemen as a somewhat homogeneous group, differing psychologically from the general population and/or other occupational groups (Lefkowitz, 1975).

Complete Article List

Search this Journal:
Reset
Open Access Articles: Forthcoming
Volume 10: 1 Issue (2019)
Volume 9: 2 Issues (2018)
Volume 8: 2 Issues (2017)
Volume 7: 1 Issue (2016)
Volume 6: 2 Issues (2015)
Volume 5: 2 Issues (2014)
Volume 4: 2 Issues (2013)
Volume 3: 2 Issues (2012)
Volume 2: 2 Issues (2011)
Volume 1: 2 Issues (2010)
View Complete Journal Contents Listing