ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the author’s reflective police experiences to better understand the motivations for conducting this research and to further conceptualise how gender ideologies are constructed, expressed and enforced within policing. As such, this chapter fulfils two main purposes: (1) to conceptualise how binary bias is typically encountered within policing and (2) the role my police experience had upon the methodology of this research. By highlighting how I evolved during different stages of my police tenure (i.e. police academy stage, rookie stage, and veteran stage), this chapter highlights how LGBT+ biases are reinforced within policing and how it might manifest with a member of the LGBT+ policing community. Although this chapter may increase the level of critical attention as to how I analysed my data, the aim is to openly acknowledge my stance during this research in order to provide a transparent and honest account of the methodological process. In other words, I agree with Bourdieu’s notion that being reflective is paved with good intentions and is a necessary precondition for scientific research within the social sciences. By providing an open and critical account of my policing history, my social position, I am able to explore different and innovative knowledge claims. As Bourdieu acknowledged, reflexivity is not a means of underwriting scientific knowledge, but instead provides an epistemological basis for the production of social scientific knowledge.
