Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Police subcultures'

This study analyses the relationship in Turkey between police deviancy and police culture. It is argued that deviant individuals are able to excuse their deviant practices in an environment that provides them ample opportunity. The study demonstrates that police misconduct is a matter of institutional facilitation and organisational responsibility, more so than a matter of individual deviance. The 'bad apple theory' merely provides an attempt to normalise or invent plausible excuses for deviant conduct by the police authorities. On the contrary, it is argued that police violence is culturally rooted in the operational code that exists within groups of police officers. It is due to such an operational code that allows violence in certain situations to be regarded as a logical, acceptable or at the very least, a condonable form of behaviour. Hence, from this perspective, for positive development to be effective, it must be targeted at the informal culture of the police and their practical working rules, as opposed to the cosmetic legislative changes and initiatives aimed at public relations. Consequently, this study explores the Turkish police culture and shows that the element of 'authority' is almost a single dominant factor behind the occupational culture of the police officers' - despite two elements: danger and authority. It is these two elements, which marks it apart from police cultures in England and Wales and the United States. The core characteristics of the Turkish police culture are closely related to police officers' authority to that of a 'man in charge'. Police violence is thus deemed an almost inevitable tool in defence of this mandate, and to subsequently prevent an erosion of authority. Thus, in order to understand this mentality of Turkish police officers, the historical development of their role has also been emphasised.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007.
The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on April 15, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

The work of a police officer is stressful and could potentially lead to burnout. As a result, a variety of reactions may occur which include, cynicism, abuse of authority, and in extreme cases suicide. One method which has been proven to be effective in treating officer stress is counseling; however, because of the policing subculture the opportunity to seek counseling has been ignored. In order to successfully manage officer stress, the subculture must be dealt with. Additionally, the officers' family must also be acknowledged as being affected by officer burnout. Counseling services must be made available to the officer's family and through training they can become a source of support instead of an added source of stress to the officer.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of New Orleans, 2004.
Title from electronic submission form. "A thesis ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Sociology."--Thesis t.p. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Police officers are distinct and unique actors in public spaces. They experience a peculiar familiarity with wider society: they often do not personally know the citizens in the areas they patrol but everyone knows that they are part of the police by their uniform. Beyond the visual iconography of the basic clothing that police officers wear, the characteristics of ‘the police’ are embedded in everything that police officers use to do their job effectively: clothing, equipment (including discretionary equipment) and vehicles. This thesis examines the construction and communication of the police uniform and how this is conveyed through individual roles, ranks and gender. In recent years the police service has undergone a number of changes with the introduction of neighbourhood policing (NP) being one of the most significant. The arrival of neighbourhood police officers, neighbourhood beat officers and police community support officers have enabled a new position from which to analyse the uniform. Within this context, the thesis utilises an in-depth ethnography to examine the practical and symbolic uses of officer uniforms. The research involved approximately seventeen days on patrol (equating to roughly 140 hours) over a period of four months across four research sites in a northern police force. The findings reveal the strength of dominant policing discourses linked to the uniform, gender, identity and performance show the ways that these discourses are also infused and subverted by different sets of meanings and behaviours. The police constables (PCs) and police community support officers (PCSOs) involved in the study were seen to manoeuvre and navigate these contested discourses and fragmented nature of policing culture through the lens of their uniforms. Using Erving Goffman as a theoretical framework, along with the complementary work of Judith Butler (1993; 1999) and Malcolm Young (1991; 1992), this thesis contributes to the theoretical debate on the influence of the police uniform on the wearer; provides a gendered analysis of how equipment, vehicles and accoutrements are used to feminise and masculinise ‘unisex’ police clothing; and it provides an account of how rituals of purification are used in an attempt to avoid the symbolic, moral and physical contamination of the police occupation. The concluding discussion of the thesis presents a number of contributions in relation to contested binaries and polarities present through the use of occupational uniforms in neighbourhood policing.

Coping isn't for the Faint of Heart: An Investigation into the Development of Coping Strategies for Incoming Police Recruits Stacey Anne Moore Clifton ABSTRACT Policing in America has lost more officers to suicides than line of duty deaths over the past four years. As the gatekeepers to the criminal justice system, the well-being of officers is critical as unhealthy police using poor coping strategies to handle their stress can lead to a multitude of negative consequences for the communities they serve, their departments, their fellow officers, and themselves. While the technology of policing is quickly advancing, the routine duties of officers remain stressful. This stress requires officers to use effective coping strategies to deal with it, but the traditional subculture of policing promotes maladaptive, rather than adaptive, coping strategies. To understand how the subculture influences police and the coping strategies they use, research must understand the socialization process of recruits entering the job. The current research seeks to understand how police recruits are socialized into the police subculture and how this affects the coping strategies they use to deal with the stressors they will confront on the job. The research analyzes how the network position of recruits influences their adoption of the police subculture and how this, in turn, affects their development of coping strategies. Recruits were surveyed three times during their academy training to examine the transitioning and socialization that occurs throughout the police academy. Results reveal that networks affect the adoption of the police subculture by recruits and this socialization process impacts the development of coping strategies by recruits. Findings highlight the need for future work to continue the longitudinal research approach to examine how the networks change once recruits complete their field training and probationary period.
Doctor of Philosophy
Coping isn't for the Faint of Heart: An Investigation into the Development of Coping Strategies for Incoming Police Recruits Stacey Anne Moore Clifton GENERAL AUDIENCE ABSTRACT Police officers are engaged in an occupation that induces a vast amount of stress, leading to burnout and poor coping strategies. Blue H.E.L.P. began tracking the suicide rates of law enforcement and found that officers are dying more often by their own hands than in line of duty deaths. We have also seen growing tensions between police and communities, further leading to lower retention rates of current officers. The current study seeks to understand how police recruits are trained to endure the stress of their occupation. Policing is comprised of a unique occupational culture that creates solidarity among its members, which can influence how officers learn to utilize coping mechanisms. The current research examines how new police recruits fit into this occupational culture and how this affects their coping strategies over time. Results show that how new recruits are socialized into the occupational culture matter in terms of how they learn to cope with their job. Understanding how new recruits are taught to cope is imperative to destigmatize the notion of well-being to train healthier officers and to potentially lower suicide rates among our nation's law enforcement.

This study develops a new theoretical approach and empirical measure of American regional subcultures using public opinion survey data and building on previous research (Chinni and Gimpel 2011; Elazar 1962, 1966; Hero 2000; Lieske 1993; Putnam, Leonardi and Nanetti 1994). Instead of approaching classification of regions based on formal geography, border states, population demography, ethnic groups and migration patterns, or historical traditions, this study uses a vernacular geography approach to study culture in the 50 American states. Vernacular geography is the sense of place revealed in ordinary people’s language. The study uses original nationwide survey data to measure perceptions of place based on states that are most similar to a respondent’s home state. The measure is based on unique survey questions where respondents have the freedom to choose any of the 50 states. The surveys are conducted by the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES) from 2012 to 2016. These data allow development of a new measure of state similarity or regional subcultures based on vernacular geography. The state similarity network based on people’s feelings shows that state contiguity is not the driving factor in people’s perceptions of regions of the United States. It also shows that people’s perceptions of state similarity are a better predictor of policy diffusion than contiguity. Finally, this study shows that wealth is the most important factor in people’s perceptions of state similarity, but that population size, racial diversity, rural/urban population density, and ideology/partisanship are all predictors of people’s perceptions of state similarity at low levels. This study argues that perceptions of place matter. They are a core building block of political culture and are important for understanding policy diffusion. This study is about how citizens conceptualize their home state and network of most similar states, and whether state similarity networks, or social networks of states, influence government policy adoption and innovation.

This thesis is an examination of the various ways in which marijuana, its use, and its users have historically been signified, within both hegemonic and subcultural discourses, from marijuana's origins in antiquity through its North American prohibition in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Attention is given to how this history, and prohibition in particular, has informed contemporary North American significations of the drug, its use and its users.

Abstract The culture of law enforcement is an all or nothing proposition with no gray area where membership into this society is concerned. You are either “on the job” or you are not. Even references among officers to “the job” indicate there is only one job. Likened to a secret handshake, that initial phrase if answered correctly opens the door to instant fraternal acceptance, get out of violation passes, and the many other assumed privileges of brotherhood. Manning (1980) describes the powerful mystification of policing as the “sacred canopy”. He further asserts that “the police role conveys a sense of sacredness or awesome power that lies at the root of political order, and authority, the claims a state makes upon its people for deference to rules, laws and norms” (Manning, 1980, p. 21). These elements make policing unique to all other American occupations. The sacredness of the profession creates social autonomy protected by the officers’ code of silence. Operating in this vacuum apart from public accountability fosters an environment for behavior outside of laws the institution is charged with enforcing. My research shows the process of occupational socialization ushers officers into a state of becoming blue, or the enculturation of expectant behavior and actions. I confirm that assignments into the Special Operations Group (SOG) facilitate a subculture separate and apart from the institutional ideals (Librett, 2006) and encourage a darkening of the shade of blue identifying officers with a labeling of deviance. While previous research identifies the code of silence as a by-product of the policing culture, my research identifies it as fundamental for maintaining the covenant of the dark blue fraternity.

Au carrefour de la sociologie de la culture et de la sociologie de la déviance, ce travail porte sur les dimensions festives et oppositionnelles du monde des free parties, qui s’articule autour de manifestations techno clandestines et marginales. A partir d’une enquête ethnographique, il s’agit d’examiner une pratique culturelle et musicale mais aussi de saisir la variété des expressions oppositionnelles que les jeunes engagés dans ce monde y déploient. A la suite d’un travail de clarification théorique, cette recherche s’inspire de la notion de contre-culture, dans laquelle l’idée de conflictualité est centrale. Cet outil conceptuel permet d’explorer diverses facettes de l’univers free, controversé et encore largement méconnu, et notamment sa composante « contre ». On peut ainsi montrer que, si le monde free est loin d’être réductible à ses dimensions oppositionnelles, celles-ci peuvent donner un relief particulier à la fête – et réciproquement. La pertinence du croisement entre l’objet « free parties » et l’outil conceptuel « contre-cultures » est due en partie à la double déviance, sociale et légale, qui caractérise les fêtes techno étudiées. Les différents aspects oppositionnels mis en évidence dans ce monde juvénile, ainsi que la distinction entre non-conformité et contestation qui en émane, permettent d’analyser le rapport entre déviance, illégalité, conflictualité/illégalité à la lumière du cas des free parties
At the crossroads of the sociology of culture and the sociology of deviance, this work focuses on the festive and oppositional dimensions of the free party world, which revolves around clandestine and marginal techno events. Based on an ethnographic research, this study aims to examine a cultural and musical practice but also to grasp the various oppositional expressions unfolding within this youth culture. After providing a theoretical clarification, I draw on the notion of counterculture, in which the idea of conflict is central. This conceptual tool enables me to explore various facets of the free party universe, controversial and still largely misunderstood, and in particular its antagonistic elements. Thus I show that, while the free party world does not amount to its oppositional dimensions, the latter can enhance the festive experience – and vice versa. The double deviance – both social and legal – characteristic of the studied techno parties makes it all the more relevant to bring together this object of study and the concept of counterculture. The various oppositional aspects of this youth culture I highlight, as well as the resulting distinction between nonconformity and contention, enable me to analyze the relationship between deviance, illegality, and conflict/counterculture in the light of the case of free parties

A study was conducted to describe and interpret the personal strategies that South African Police Service officers in the Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, use in their line of work. These are strategies to deal with the impact of the primary victims’ critical incidents of rape, domestic violence, murder and road accidents. The focus was on describing the impact of the critical incidents that the officers are exposed to, which manifest in a form of traumatic stress, namely, vicarious traumatisation, and management of this impact. Twenty participants were selected through purposive and theoretical sampling techniques from the family violence, child protection and sexual offences, domestic violence, field training, detective and social crime prevention units. Unstructured open-ended interviews, diaries and follow-up telephone interviews were used as data collection methods and data were collected in the participants’ home languages, Tshivenda and Xitsonga. Data gathered necessitated looking into both the aspects of the officers’ organisational and operational work. Data were thus analysed through the content thematic and constant comparative data analysis methods. The results first presented a profile of police vicarious traumatisation in the Vhembe District, which include the types of critical incidents exposed to, the organisational and operational stressors that lead to vicarious traumatisation, and the description of vicarious traumatisation symptoms. Second, a theoretical framework of the process of police critical incidents impact management (PCIIM) was developed. The framework shows that the management of the impact of the encountered incidents is inspired by various coping needs and subcultures of the officers, and the management takes place through the use of two styles of trauma management, namely, the linear and multilateral styles, which refer to application of coping strategies successively and the combination of horizontal and vertical application of coping strategies, respectively. The coping strategies used by the officers help them to have an objective understanding of the critical incidents encountered, have less severe symptoms of vicarious traumatisation, some symptoms last for shorter periods than before, and other symptoms are no longer experienced. Resilience to the encountered incidents is shown through the development of coping strategies to handle the incidents, facing them, and showing cognitive hardiness. The officers also manage to reflect on the experiences encountered, engage in narratives about them and mutual help thus still working towards attaining posttraumatic growth.
Psychology
D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

碩士
國立中央大學
英美語文學研究所
96
This thesis is a queer intervention into the gay rave culture. Around one thousand gay men converge almost every weekend, and not only young boys but also middle-aged mature men are very enthusiastic outside the rave club. A curious mind can never resist this hilarious festival which is drumming up loud interest in me for an explicatory excursion. Therefore, I crank up academic courage and tiptoe down the path to paradise and perdition as if there were only four minutes to save the WORRRRLDDDD— theirs vis-?-vis ours. The first chapter concerns my ethnographic and theoretical journey into the gay rave culture, and I rely heavily on participant observation instead of conducting formal interviews. Their resilient courage takes me by surprise, especially when the dance music thrusts them into ecstatic motion. Despite the music and the landscape that might pull some weight, I roll my eyes and scratch my head, wondering whether or not I have to plunge into prurient details about these men’s accidental erotic encounters. My eyes glaze over! I yawn, ruminate over some leftist thinkers, and drift into insomnia. These gay villains attempt to relax the rigor of the ideals of heterosexual monogamy in our society, and they do not strain our credulity as their concrete action strikes my mind. I realize that our society is experiencing a mammoth structural change when the family is on a considerable decline, and we have every reason to solicit intimacy in public. However, to think and live beyond the family comes with territory. The Nong-an Street gay home party is busted in 2004, and twenty-eight out of the total ninety-two men are found HIV positive. In the second chapter, I will broach this incident in terms of media representation. The glaring miscarriage of justice evident in the compulsory HIV test informs a very misguided campaign against HIV infection. To make substantial improvements and to save life, our medical authorities must profess implacable allegiance to sexual differences without sustaining a hierarchy of sexuality. The gay home party ravers actually practice safe sex, which can elude an eye of abstinence and chastity. In this chapter, I propose to acknowledge this sex culture in which gay men use great numbers of condoms. To step up measures against HIV infection, we must introduce every sexual practice to public attention. There is no need to demarcate a domain of good familial sex against a domain of bad sex outside the procreative family. In concluding this thesis, I would engage my research in a critical dialogue with the claim to same-sex marriage as legal equality in Taiwan. The inchoate dynamics between the LGBT movement and our new President Ma will come under meticulous scrutiny. To credit Ma for gay visibility in Taipei, we must demand great responsibilities of him for policing gay rave culture. Now the queer movement is arriving at a watershed moment when the claim to same-sex marriage enjoys fair public resonance. If Ma only endorses this claim to allow marriageable gay subject to emerge, he can neutralize the sluttish resistance from the gay ravers. We have to prevent Ma from driving a wedge into the gay population, because any claim to legal equality can oppress real social diversity. My thesis concludes on a cautious note of true equal recognition.

Les raves sont des événements festifs dédiés à la musique techno et à la danse qui se distinguent des autres lieux de rassemblement tels que les bars et les discothèques notamment par le fait qu’ils se déroulent toute la nuit dans un lieu aménagé pour l’occasion et qu’il n’y a généralement pas de vente d’alcool. La consommation de drogues de synthèse telles que l’ecstasy et les speeds y est toutefois largement répandue. La tenue de ces rassemblements pose une série de problèmes du point de vue des autorités policières, tels que la présence de trafiquants de drogues ainsi que la sécurité des lieux où se déroulent les raves. Dans le contexte particulier de ces événements, les pratiques de contrôle social sont soumises à un certain nombre d’ambiguïtés. Le but général de l’étude est de permettre une compréhension de la façon dont se déterminent et s’appliquent les règles qui visent à encadrer la tenue de ce type de rassemblements. Trois objectifs spécifiques sont poursuivis, soit 1) de comprendre comment on a tenté de réguler ce type d’événements à Montréal, 2) de comprendre comment les différents acteurs responsables de l’organisation et du bon déroulement des événements établissent une série de règles, aussi bien formelles qu’informelles, et négocient leur application dans le cadre de leur pratique, et 3) de comprendre comment ces acteurs identifient certaines situations comme constituant un problème et éventuellement, y réagissent. La principale méthode de recueil des données a consisté à réaliser des entretiens semi-dirigés avec des promoteurs d’événements rave, des agents de sécurité ainsi que d’autres personnes impliquées dans le milieu telles que policier, pompier, artistes de la scène rave et intervenants. L’observation participante lors d’événements rave fut utilisée comme méthode complémentaire. L’étude démontre comment le service de police s’est vu confronté avec les raves à un vide juridique et comment l’encadrement de ce type d’événements s’est plutôt exercé par le service de prévention des incendies. Les autorités ont également tenté d’encadrer le phénomène par des modifications à certaines règlementations, dont celles sur les permis d’alcool. L’étude démontre également de quelle manière et en fonction de quoi les différents acteurs du milieu négocient les règles en cours d’action dans un contexte où la frontière entre le licite et l’illicite est floue.
Raves are festive events dedicated to dance and techno music, different from other places of gathering such as bars and discotheques by the fact that they take place in all night venues converted for the occasion and where there is generally no sale of alcohol. Synthetic drug consumption such as ecstasy and speed is largely widespread in these events. The existence of these gatherings poses a series of problems from the point of view of the police authorities, such as the presence of drug dealers as well as the safety of the venue where the raves are held. In the particular context of these events, social control practices are subjected to a certain number of ambiguities. The general goal of this study is to allow an understanding of the way the rules, that constitute the framework of this type of gathering, are determined and applied. Three specific objectives pursued in this study are 1) to understand how authorities tried to control these types of events in Montreal, 2) to understand how the various actors responsible for the organization of these events establish a series of rules, formal and informal, and negotiate their application within the framework of their practice, and 3) to understand how these actors identify certain situations as problematic and eventually react to them. The main data collection method consisted in carrying out semi-directed interviews with rave Producers, Security Agents, Police Officer, Fire Marshal, Artists of the rave scene and other parties involved. Participating observation in actual events was a complementary method. This study demonstrates how the police service faced a legal void regarding rave events and how the regulatory framework was rather introduced by the fire department. The authorities also tried to control the rave phenomenon by modifying certain regulations, such as those applicable to alcohol licence. The study also demonstrates how and why key stakeholders negotiate the rules in the course of action in this particular context where the frontier between the licit and the illicit is woolly.

This thesis describes the phenomenon of alternative culture in public policy. The first part seeks to define what alternative culture means and builds on the research mainly from sociology and cultural studies. Very useful are then specific theory of social deviance, the theory of subcultures and postsubcultures. At the same time, the paper looks into the past, before 1989, when the alternative culture phenomenon was clearly defined, standing outside the mainstream culture and the alternative culture was illegal. Through the analysis of some events and political cases from the recent past, there could be seen both differences between alternative culture and an attitude to it before 1989, but also some important parallels with the current situation of alternative culture. Alternative culture is later specified by current alternative underground subcultures: freetekno - DIY, squatting and street art. In the case of these three controversial subcultures, the paper deals with an attitude of public policy to these subcultures through the extremism policy. The next part the paper deals with the contemporary cultural politics in the country. Briefly, it describes and outlines the current situation and possible areas for innovation in the context of alternative culture. In the last phase this thesis deals...

The South African Department of Correctional Services has a legislative mandate of detaining offenders in safe custody whilst ensuring their human dignity amongst others. This stems from section 2 of the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998 as amended. In addition to that, chapter 3 of this Act makes provision for conditions under which offenders should be treated, conditions of human dignity. This piece of legislation is effectively giving effect to the Bill of Rights as articulated in chapter two of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996. It is expected of the department to treat offenders according to the provisions of not only this Constitution and Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998 as amended but also to comply with the international conventions and treaties. Extensive empirical and non-empirical studies on the treatment of offenders have been conducted by various scholars in the field of penology but not much has been done to bring to the fore knowledge with regard to the developmental trend of the treatment of offenders. It is against this backdrop that a qualitative study through systematic review of literature was conducted to bring together and examine available literature. In other words, a systematic literature review was conducted to determine if there is a developmental trend towards the treatment of offenders in South Africa as required by the prescripts of the law. Furthermore, this study was conducted to also demonstrate the researcher’s knowledge in the field of penology. The focus was on the central theories identified as offenders’ rights. The Department of Correctional Services identified eight offenders’ rights and sees them as its Constitutional mandate (Department of Correctional Services, 2013:8). This study has found a violation of the offenders’ right to equality to be diminishing over time. Apart from that, this study reveals a substantial violation of offenders’ rights because out of seven offenders’ rights, only one [freedom of religion] appears be successfully protected and promoted by the department. This study further present the recommendations and suggested areas of further research.
Penology
D. Litt. et Phil. (Penology)