Police-public interactions: a grid-group cultural theory perspective

Abstract

Purpose – The police culture literature suggests that police officers’ attitude towards the public is characterised by suspicion and an “us-vs-them” mentality. It also refers to the moral mission of protecting the public by being tough on crime. The traditional police culture model seems to imply that these aspects are typical for the police. There is, however, a lack of empirical studies to test this proposition. The purpose of this paper is to propose a different conceptual framework, based on grid-group cultural theory (GGCT), which not only broadens the lens of the police culture model, but also allows for comparative research between different professional groups. Design/methodology/approach – The newly developed conceptual framework is tested in an ethnographic study in the Belgian police and labour inspection. The main data collection methods are observation, interview and informal conversation. Findings – The results of this study show that there are similarities in the way in which Belgian police officers and labour inspectors interact with the public, which raises interesting questions concerning the (often implicit) claim of the police culture literature concerning the specificity of police culture. Research limitations/implications – More research is needed to gain deeper insight into similarities and differences of the occupational culture in the police and comparable professional groups. GGCT offers a useful conceptual framework for such a research agenda. Originality/value – This paper addresses a number of criticisms against the classic police culture model and provides an innovative perspective to not only study aspects of police culture, but also compare the police with other professions.

The development of moral reasoning skills in police recruits

“…"police culture" on the other. The former is mostly described neutrally or even positively, while the latter typically has a pejorative connotation, often associated with negative attitudes and behaviors like stereotyping, cynicism, racial discrimination, rule bending and the blue code of silence (Loyens and Maesschalck, 2014;Macvean and Cox, 2012;Reiner, 2010). By focussing on these negative aspects, police culture is typically seen as a breeding ground for police misconduct.…”

Shifting repertoires: understanding cultural plurality in policing

“…First, policing has a different character throughout the globe and change through time. For instance, the police in Belgium (Loyens and Maesschalck 2014) or in the Netherlands in the 1970s (Punch 1979) is not the same as in the Netherlands in present day. Still, some of its characteristic are shared and even enduring (cf.…”

“…The literature on police cultures then tells a complex story about core elements of the police function and experience, which go hand in hand with subcultures based on diversity between groups, areas and individuals, and slow change over time (see also, Chan 1997). Empirical studies of police culture, however, tend to focus on specific aspects of the culture and an integrated framework would be useful (Loyens and Maesschalck 2014). We expect that Grid Group Cultural Theory, or GGCT, will allow us to see more of police culture(s).…”

Introduction to the Symposium

“…1 Scholars of public administration, public management, and organizational studies have used this institutional theory to explain puzzles in areas as diverse as urban transport and traffic management (Hendriks 1999), citizen participative processes in policy-making (Hoppe 2002b(Hoppe , 2010Ney and Verweij 2014;Trousset et al 2015;Gastil et al 2016), central-local relations (Stoker 2002;Entwistle et al 2016), disagreement over public management reform (Smullen 2010a(Smullen , 2010b, styles of crisis decision-making (Grint 2010), user involvement in public services (Simmons et al 2011;Loyens and Maesschalck 2014;Simmons 2016), styles of policing (Frosdick and Odell 1996;Loyens 2009;Loyens and Maesschalck 2014;Hendriks and Van Hulst 2016), ethics management (Maesschalck 2004;Loyens and Maesschalck 2010), crime control and punishment (Vaughan 2002(Vaughan , 2004Loyens 2013a), administrative justice (Halliday and Scott 2009), hospital clinical management (Rayner 1986), health and social care (Peck et al 2004;Peck and 6 2006), social housing management (Jensen 1998;Manzi 2007), land use planning (Coyle 1993;Harrison and Burgess 1994;Wolsink 2004;Swedlow 2011bSwedlow , 2012Davy 2012;Hartmann 2012), regulation (Coyle 1994;Lodge et al 2010;…”

“…Scholars of public administration, public management, and organizational studies have used this institutional theory to explain puzzles in areas as diverse as urban transport and traffic management (Hendriks ), citizen participative processes in policy‐making (Hoppe , ; Ney and Verweij ; Trousset et al ; Gastil et al ), central–local relations (Stoker ; Entwistle et al ), disagreement over public management reform (Smullen , ), styles of crisis decision‐making (Grint ), user involvement in public services (Simmons et al ; Loyens and Maesschalck ; Simmons ), styles of policing (Frosdick and Odell ; Loyens ; Loyens and Maesschalck ; Hendriks and Van Hulst ), ethics management (Maesschalck ; Loyens and Maesschalck ), crime control and punishment (Vaughan , ; Loyens ), administrative justice (Halliday and Scott ), hospital clinical management (Rayner ), health and social care (Peck et al ; Peck and 6 ), social housing management (Jensen ; Manzi ), land use planning (Coyle ; Harrison and Burgess ; Wolsink ; Swedlow , ; Davy ; Hartmann ), regulation (Coyle ; Lodge et al ; Lodge and Wegrich ; Loyens , , ; Heims ; Linsley et al ), pension reform (Ney ), science and technology assessment (Rayner ; Hoppe and Grin ; Swedlow ), use of voluntary organizations to provide public services (Kendall ), issues in development (e.g. Hoekstra ; Murphy ), decision‐making in government, including core executives (6 , 2016a, 2016b; 6 and Bellamy ), and settlements in various areas of administration (Verweij and Thompson …”