Police Occupational Socialization

Police occupational socialization is the process whereby individuals learn to be fit for performing police work by becoming aware of organizational and occupational practices, internalizing them, and carrying them out as participating members of their work [Page 573]group. Learning takes place through three social phases: pre-entry, entry, and in-service. This sequence involves individuals making a choice to become a police officer, learning formal and informal lessons during police recruit or academy training, and learning them on the job, respectively.

How officers make sense of these social events affects the way they perceive, influence, and interact with citizens in a law enforcement capacity. At the pre-entry phase, individuals learn about themselves, evaluate their personal qualities by comparing themselves with what they know about the police, and make a decision to become a police officer. During the entry phase, they begin to construct a self-concept that is coherent with what they learn about police roles, activities, and relationships with citizens. They begin to form a social identity about themselves as group members of the police profession. They learn to make social inferences about the citizens they meet. Finally, at the in-service phase, they strengthen and defend their self-concepts and social identity. They learn to conform to organizational and occupational norms so that they can act comfortably within the police culture. Officers develop different work-style attitudes that reflect subjective outlooks that include beliefs and values affecting how they interact with citizens during police-citizen contacts. Police socialization ensures that individuals acquire the necessary knowledge to perform adequately on the job. Understanding the role that thinking or mental processes play during socialization is at the heart of comprehending why officers act the way they do in their occupational settings.