Author(s):
Marcel Müller

Institution:
Polizeiakademie Niedersachsen

Title:
Changing Cop Culture?

Abstract:
While the classic theoretical models of a dichotomous police culture may be essentially accurate, they largely overlook the multifaceted processes of differentiation within the organization — particularly those occurring at the same hierarchical level. In this regard, they assume a homogeneity that does not exist in this form in the reality of policing — despite the two poles of a “street cop culture” and a “management cop culture”. In this sense, alter- native social theories, such as those of social arenas or worlds, may offer more suitable explanatory approaches for identifying the (predominant) routines, practices, rationales for action, or thought patterns of police officers.
Furthermore, the traditional focus on a male-dominated, rigid police culture appears, in part, to be outdated in light of a changing personnel structure. Factors such as the ongoing academization of the profession, the rising proportion of women, the increase in officers with a migration background, and generational change are giving rise to new forms of habitus and understandings of roles, which point to a (gradual) transformation of police culture.

S. 37-45