Trials of loyalty: Ethnic minority police officers as ‘outsiders’ within a greedy institution

Abstract

In this article we interrogate how ethnicity interfaces with the police culture in a major Swedish police force. While addressing administrative levels, in particular police security officers’ screening of new recruits, we focus on the role that loyalty plays in defining how ethnicity interacts with mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion in the structures of rank-and-file police culture. The police authorities, perceived as ‘greedy institutions’, demand and enforce exclusive loyalty. We argue that ethnic minority officers are rigorously tested as regards their loyalty to their fellow officers and to the police organization, and the demands made on their undivided loyalty and the misgivings as to their unstinting loyalty act as barriers to inclusion in the organization.

Within ‘the Tin Bubble’: the police and ethnic minorities in Sweden

“…What some of the interviewees above described as innocent talk or coarse but good-hearted humour taking place 'within their own Tin Bubble', or as a way of handling one's emotions through verbal means, can clearly lead to decreased workplace satisfaction among police employees coming from minority backgrounds (see also Cashmore 2001, Holdaway and O'Neill 2006, p. 286, Heijes 2007, p. 556, Loftus 2008). This can have as its consequence the very real possibility that these employees then become excluded from their community of peers and that their loyalty becomes questioned (Peterson and Uhnoo 2012). The assumption that verbal racism that is overtly expressed only 'within the Tin Bubble' is not problematic as a phenomenon, that it in those conditions is 'just talk' that no one, really, takes too seriously or becomes upset about, is not supported by what the police employees with a foreign background in this study stated in their interviews.…”

“…His colleagues, furthermore, had advised him to watch out how he interacted with his 'foreign' friends. His loyalty was questioned: was he with 'them' (the immigrants) or 'us' (the police) (see also Peterson and Uhnoo 2012)? Yet another interviewee expressed himself as being unsure of how his co-workers ultimately viewed him, of whether they, when he was not present, perhaps spoke of him the same way they talked prejudicially about 'wogs' in the cafeteria room.…”

Private security policing by ‘ethnic matching’ in Swedish suburbs: avoiding and managing accusations of ethnic discrimination

“…The police research covers the promotion of (ethnic) diversity within the police force and also 'policing diversity' as a means of achieving legitimacy (Rowe 2002, Cashmore 2002, van Ewijk 2011, Peterson and Uhnoo 2012, Pettersson 2013), but in the private security industry, strategies concerning ethnic diversity are a new phenomenon that has not been researched. Previous research in the field of private security has focused on the actual service delivery of private security officers (Hobbs et al 2003, Wakefield 2003, Button 2007b, the 'risk gaze' or risk profiling targeting specific categories of people (McCahill 2002, Wakefield 2003, Hutchinson and O'Connor 2005 and also ethnic profiling by private security officers (Gabbidon 2003, O'Dougherty 2006, Kempa and Singh 2008, as well as public perceptions of the industry (Livingstone and Hart 2003, Noaks 2008, van Steden and Nalla 2010, Berndtsson 2011, Thumala et al 2011.…”

Marginalised voices in the inclusive recruitment discourse: a dilemma of inclusion/exclusion in the (Swedish) police

“…Hence, the inclusive recruitment discourse conceals normative positioning and privileges ascribed to people within hegemonic police cultural norms (ethnic Swedish, heterosexual men), while minorities continue to be reproduced as 'outsiders within' (cf. Loftus, 2008;McElhinny, 2001;Peterson & Uhnoo, 2012). Although diversity strategies aim to promote equality in the police the inclusive recruitment discourse also reproduces the status-quo and conceals both differences between people and the socially constructed inequality between different groups (Archer, 2007).…”

“…Despite positive trends towards inclusion within the police, barriers to diversity in recruitment, retention and promotion are reported to be multifaceted, and are an under-researched area (Bjørkelo et al, 2015;Shepherd, 2014). Barriers include perceived negative attitudes towards the police among friends and family (low status and high risk), a student environment with experiences of marginalisation and exclusion (Lander, 2013;Wieslander, 2014), negative attitudes from colleagues in the work environment (Colvin, 2009;Peterson & Uhnoo, 2012;Rennstam & Sullivan, 2016) and perceived obstacles to minorities attaining positions of leadership in the police (Haake, 2017;Silvestri, Tong & Brown, 2013;Van Ewijk, 2012). Some argue that a positive, multicultural action strategy for minority officers could de-legitimise them in terms of their career, alienating them within the service (Bjørkelo et al, 2015;Shepherd, 2014).…”