Comparative organizational cultures and the effect of cultural isolation on ethical orientation in police agencies

This dissertation addresses the question of whether the police culture is the same throughout the profession, or whether the meaningful aspects of the culture are unique to the individual police departments. In addition, it explores whether the characteristics of the police culture are learned or if the occupation attracts individuals who already possess the traits identified. The method used was to administer survey questionnaires to six larger police departments in the State of Illinois. The departments that took part were those of the cities of Aurora, Joliet, Naperville, Peoria, Rockford and Springfield.The survey was designed to measure attitudes regarding the ethical attitudes of the respondents, the degree to which they feel isolated from the community they serve, and the degree to which they identify with their own department. The responses to the attitudes measured above were used to construct scales that were used in models that were constructed to test the hypothesis that the degree to which the officers feel isolated from their communities would negatively impact on their ethical attitudes.The mean scores on the attitude scales were compared to determine if the attitudes of the officers varied significantly among departments. In addition, a longitudinal component of the study surveyed the same attitudes in police academy cadets at the beginning and again at the end of their studies to see if there was support for a social learning theory or if the cadets brought a "police personality" with them to the job.Support was found for the idea of meaningful aspects of the culture being unique to the individual departments, although a powerful overarching police culture was not ruled out. Very strong support was found for the idea of a social learning method of culture development in police agencies.