Fair Cop

Police forces everywhere have been undergoing major social and organizational changes. In this, one of the few longitudinal studies of police socialization, Janet Chan, Christopher Devery, and Sally Doran present the complexity of police socialization under these changing conditions. Following 150 new police recruits through two years of training and apprenticeship, the authors question the traditional model of socialization that assumes a degree of stability and homogeneity in the organizational culture. They suggest that recruits' developmental paths can be much more varied and police culture is increasingly vulnerable to change. Drawing on interviews, observations, and questionnaires, the authors depict the complex processes by which recruits adapt, redefine, cope with, and make sense of the positive and negative aspects of their training and apprenticeship. Bringing together rigorous quantitative analyses with rich ethnographic description, Fair Copprovides new empirical data and theoretical understanding about the reproduction and change of police culture.

Janet B.L. Chan is Professor in the School of Social Science and Policy at the University of New South Wales. Christopher Devery, Chris Devery, New South Wales Police College. Sally Doran is a Research Assistant at the School of Social Science and Policy at the University of New South Wales.