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Police Occupational Culture Testing the Monolithic Model

NCJ Number
253355
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 35 Issue: 4 Dated: 2018 Pages: 670-698
Author(s)
Eugene A. Paoline III; Jacinta M. Gau
Date Published
2018
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This study's objective was to empirically test a theoretical model of the dimensions of the occupational culture of police that has been developed from the variety of dimensions featured in available research.
Abstract

The theoretical model depicts the ways in which the stressful features of the police work environment produce coping mechanisms and outcomes. Although this model usefully organizes the literature on police culture, the current study tested its empirical validity by using path analyses of officer survey data. Although the analyses support several of the propositions of the monolithic model, the magnitude of the statistical association was not powerful, and the model's fit overall was marginal. The implications of these findings are especially relevant, given recent concerns over police-community relations and the renewed interest in the police occupational culture expressed by the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. (publisher abstract modified)