ABSTRACT
How do we frame a “police culture?” By frame, I mean identify the source of the values, social structures, and other elements that make up some organizational “culture.” There are three frames commonly used in literature on police culture. The first frame is interactionist, and locates culture and cultural emergence in the face to face interactions of officers in local settings. The idea that the police are a “local culture” suggests that the outlooks and predispositions of police officers emerge from their work setting and occupational environment. The second frame looks at police organizations in terms of subcultures, that is, whose values and cultural predispositions are imported from outside, and uses an institutional perspective to identify common subcultural elements. According to the institutional perspective I look at broad institutional or national patterns and their effects on local structures and the values carried by local actors. The third frame draws from a variety of contemporary writings to argue that multiple cultures co-exist in police organizations. This literature defies easy categorization and individual authors will be considered.
