POLICE FORUM - Radford University

POLICE FORUM
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
Police Section
VOLUME 14 NUMBER 2 JUNE 2005
From the Police Section Immediate Past Chair:
Report ofthe Police Section Annual might want to consider one large session
Meeting, March 17, 2005. next year.
I want to thank those members who were
able to attend the Police Section Meeting
on March 17,2005. We all had to make
a choice between attending our regional
meeting or the Police Section. ACJS
President, Laura Moriarty, and
Executive Director, Mittie Southerland,
promise this will never happen again.
I also want to thank you for allowing me
to chair your section for the past two
years. With pride, I list my membership
and positions with the Police Section on
my vita. In the past two years, we
offered Police Section-sponsored panels
in 2004, implemented the new position
of Historian, and reviewed and revised
our bylaws. The Police Forum stumbled
in 2004, but has new editors, Lorie
Rubenser and Jeff Rush, who have
volunteered their services with
enthusiasm.
The three back-to-back Police Section
panels did not receive the participation
that justified continuing the practice in
2005. There is too much competition
with other police-related panels to allow
for such extensive coverage. If the
Section is able to negotiate an optimum
time with the ACJS Program Chair, it
The Police Section has been in existence
for more than a decade with fragments
of its history moving in a cardboard box
from one chair to the next. I proposed
the idea of a Historian in 2004. Lucy
Hochstein agreed to accept the position
for an unlimited period of time. The
position was approved by the
membership in 2005 and will be added
to the bylaws. I hope that the members
of the Police Section will donate their
Police Section information to the new
Police Section archives currently housed
at Radford with Lucy. You can email her
at lhochstei@radford.edu.
James Golden and Tom Martinella
reviewed the Section's bylaws and
informed the members that there is only
one section that needs revising. The
procedures that instruct on the removal
of a member needs to be aligned with
ACJS guidelines. They will also add the
Historian position. Jim and Tom agreed
to send the revisions to the editors of
Police Forum for its next issue. The
members will be able to vote on changes
to the bylaws when they vote for the
executive counselor position.

Thank you again for your support. I
know you will be as supportive of your
new Chair, Allen Pierce.
Vivian B. Lord
Brief Note from the Chair of the
Police Section:
I would first like to express my and the
Section's appreciation of the able
leadership of the immediate past chair of
the Police Section, Vivian Lord. Thank
you, Vivian, for ajob well done.
I would also like to express my
appreciation to Gary Cordner for his
nomination of Carl Klockars, who was
an excellent and deserving choice for the
O.W. Wilson Award and his assistance
in presenting that award to Carl's
daughter, Amanda McMullen. Pictures
of Amanda McMullen with Gary
Cordner and Vivian Lord are available at
http://www.sulross.edu/pages/S017.asp
Vivian established the position of Police
Section Historian, and appointed Lucy
Hochstein as the first Section Historian.
We have a new editor of the Police
Forum, Lorie Rubenser. The next issue
is planned for publication in August of
this year. I want to express my
appreciation to Lorie for her willingness
to serve as the editor of Police Forum.
I have been assured by Lucy Hochstein
that she will remain in the position of
Section Historian, and is custodian of the
Police Section archives. Lucy would
appreciate any historical information or
facts and any artifacts that anyone might
be willing to share with her and the
Section. We are now trying to collect a
complete set of original copies of the
Police Forum.
The Program Committee for the 2006
Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland
has sought our active participation in
development of some special
programming in "The Philosophy and
Practice of Assessment" in policing. I
have already spoken to some of you and
may contact others for assistance in
developing some special sessions,
workshops, etc. on policing. If any of
you who have contacts in the
Baltimore/D.C. area with acknowledged
experts and authorities in policing or
have some ideas for the program would
contact me, I would appreciate it. We
really would like to have a strong
showing of police sessions, with maybe
some special sessions, i.e., Plenary
Sessions featuring well known names in
our field. The Police Section did this
several years ago with, I would argue,
outstanding success.
C. Allen Pierce, Chair
Minutes of the ACJS Police Section
Annual Meeting, March 17, 2005;
4:00PM:
1.
II.
The meeting was called to
order by Vivian Lord.
Journal Reports-
Police Quarterly: Although
Dennis Kenney was not
present, Vivian reported that
he was doing a great job. The
backlog has been
substantially handled and
there are now only 10-12
articles in queue. As a result,
those who have articles
appropriate for Police
Quarterly-but might have

een concerned over the
backlog-should not hesitate
to send them.
Police Forum: It was
discussed that apparently no
issues were published in
2004, with the last issue
received in July 2003. The
new editors for Police Forum
indicated that they had to do
a lot of work recreating
templates, etc. after taking
charge of this assignment.
They further indicated that
they may have enough
information for the next three
issues or so, but continue to
encourage submissions. The
new address for submissions
is Qoliceforum@sulross.edu.
Additional information may
be found on the ACJS
webpage. Further discussion
centered on the possibility of
changing Police Forum to an
electronic format (save
printing, postage, less worry
about page length, etc.) and
adding more information on
the activities of the police
section.
III. Elections: Vivian offered the
results of the election of officers:
C. Allen Pierce, Chair
James Golden, Vice-Chair
Randy Gamer, Secretary
Additionally, there was a call for
nominations for one of the three
Executive Counselor positions to
fill a term expiring April 2005.
IV. Budget: Vivian passed out a
proposed budget that was
3
substantially based on those
offered in previous years.
However, the discussion
suggested increasing the
A wards/Plaques budget from the
$100.00 currently listed.
Additionally, there may be
further savings depending on the
direction that is taken with the
Police Forum (moving to
electronic dissemination, etc.).
V. Presentation of Awards: Allen
Pierce and Gary· Cordner
announced the recipient of the
O.W. Wilson Award: Carl
Klockars. This award was
accepted on his behalf by his
daughter, Amanda McMullen.
VI. Old Business: Police Section
Historian, Lucy Hochstein
indicated that she needed missing
back issues of police section
publications. It was suggested
that NCJRS may have some
records. Dave Carter and Gary
Cordner offered to coordinate on
getting a complete set of back
issues. The Constitution Review
Committee reported that some
minor tweaking was needed to
ensure that bylaws were
consistent with ACJS. In
particular, issues that address the
Executive Counselor position
and the removal of a member
may need to be adjusted.
VII. New Business: Coordinators for
the Baltimore Conference next
year will be looking to the Police
Section for support. Please help
as needed. Reminder of the
Turkey Conference, June 9 th-II tho
All expenses are covered by the

2. Careful and scientific police
research.
3. Cooperation and collaboration
among police educators,
researchers, policy makers, and
practitioners.
4. Effective, equitable and
accountable policing.
The Award Procedure:
1. Nominations for each award
must be submitted to the Chair of
the Police Section Awards
Committee by the established
deadline.
2. Nominations may be submitted
by any Police Section member.
3. Submission of supporting
materials with nominations is
encouraged but not required.
The Nomination should include the
following information:
1. The name and associated
information of the nominee.
2. A brief summary of the
nominee's contributions to the
Police Section; and
3. An explanation of the
significance of these
contributions.
Chair of the Awards Committee of
ACJS Police Section is:
James W. Golden, Associate Professor
of Criminology & Criminal Justice
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
2801 S. University Ave.
Little Rock, Arkansas 72204-1099
5
Editorial Note:
The following article is the second by
Dr. George C. Klein, Professor of
Anthropology/Sociology at Oakton
Community College in Des Plaines,
Illinois. In the next issue of Police
Forum we will feature a rebuttal by Dr.
Peter B. Kraska on Dr. Klein' s two
previous articles on How Kraska Got It
Wrong.

DR. KRASKA GOT IT WRONG II:
AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF POLICE SOCIALIZATION
INTRODUCTION
Kraska and his colleagues
(Kraska, 1993, 1996, 1997a, 1997b;
Kraska and Cubellis, 1997; Kraska and
Kappeler, 1997; Kraska and Paulsen,
1997) are alarmed by the "militarization
of the police." However, what they are
really alarmed about is the police use of
force. What Kraska dislikes is "the subtle,
yet pervasive militaristic ideology
[among the police] that stresses aggressiveness
and the use of force as an effective
problem solving tool" (1997b: 298-
99). However, force, or the threat of the
use of force, is inherent in the police
role. The best way to appreciate this is
to examine police socialization. That is,
the acquisition of the skills and attitudes
regarding the use of force by police officers.
This was accomplished by an
ethnographic study of the training of
part time police officers in a middle
class suburb of 20,000 to 30,000 people
near a large Midwestern city for over
seven years.
THE PART TIME UNIT
Full time officers in the state are
required to graduate from a state accredited
police academy. Four hundred hours
are necessary to complete the curriculum
of the academy. Since part time
officers usually held full time jobs they
did not have to attend the academy.
Instead, they were required to complete
350 hours of training on evening and
weekends. This usually took a year. The
INTRODUCTION
George C. Klein
Oakton Community College
6
program consisted of 150 hours of in-house
training. This included classroom instruction,
field training, and a state mandated
40-hour firearms course. Upon the successful
completion of the firearms course the
part time officer was required to ride on
patrol for 200 hours with a field-training
officer (FTO). Upon the successful completion
of the 350 hour program the officer
was "released." This allowed them to "work
details" (parades, dances, fireworks, etc.)
and to ride patrol with a full time officer.
(Full time patrol officers usually worked
alone.) The part time officers were paid
$7.00 an hour for working details but were
not paid for riding patrol. No part time
officer ever received more than a few hundred
dollars a year in pay. The department
considered the part time officers pay as
inconsequential and they logged all their
hours as "donated."
The department that was studied had
37 to 42 full time officers from 1995 to
2001. The number of part time officers varied
between 14 and 6 during that period.
The part time officers program had existed
for many years. However, because of liability
concerns, the unit was being phased out
through attrition. The last year of hiring
was 1999. That year the number of part
time officers was 14. By 2001 the number
had fallen to 6. The highest ranking officers
in the unit were sergeants. For a time
there were 3 sergeants. The highest ranking
sergeant was the administrative sergeant.
The administrative sergeant did the
record kee in . However, when he left

many of the records were destroyed. In
2001 one of the two remaining part time
sergeants volunteered to resume record
keeping. The surviving time sheets and
departmental rosters were available to
the researcher. However personnel
records were not available. From the
available records it was found that the
department hired 33 part time officers
from 1994 until 2001 . Of these, 31 were
males and 2 were females. Thirteen of
these part time officers served a year or
less. Most quit because of a lack of time
or a lack of interest. Six part time officers
served two years or less. Six part
time officers served three years or less.
Of the remaining officers three served
for four years, two served for five years,
one served for seven years, and two
served for eight years.
Most part time officers were in
their mid-twenties or early thirties. Most
became aware of the program from full
time officers with whom they were
friends. Many hoped to serve for a time
as part time officers and then to go on to
a full time law enforcement position. Of
the 33 part time officers, six became full
time police officers (two with the same
department), three became correctional
officers, one returned to the military,
and one became a firefighter. Several of
the full time officers in the department
had started as part time officers. This
included the chief.
Just as the part time officers varied
widely in their years of service so
did they in the number of hours they
worked each year. For example, in 2001
two of the six officers worked only 18
hours for the entire year. One part time
officer worked 54 hours. Two of the
other part time officers put in about 165
hours each and one worked 324 hours.
7
This last officer, who was one of the older
members of the unit, rode between 276 and
368 hours a year from 1995 until 2001. He
averaged 320 hours a year or about 40
weeks a year of ride-along. When asked
why he spent so much time with the department
he simply replied, "I like being a coponce
a week or three times a month."
The hours the entire unit worked also
varied widely from year to year. In 1997
there were 14 part time officers. They
worked a total of 3637.5 hours for the year.
In 1998 this fell to 2119 hours. In 2001
there were only six officers remaining in
the unit and they worked a total of 744
hours.
From 1995 until 1999 the unit had
monthly meetings for training. The unit
also went to the firearms range for training
or qualification one to four times a year. In
order to be allowed to "ride"(patrol) the
unit had to "fill details." This consisted of
parades, dances, fireworks, and substituting
for the records clerks when needed. After
1999 most of the details and the records
work ended. Before 1999 members of the
unit filled a great many details. It was frequently
said, "the city loves you." That was
because the part time officers were paid $7
an hour, whereas, full time officers were
paid time-and-a half for the same work.
This led to complaints from the police
union. The union argued that the part time
officers were "taking money out of our
pockets." Pressure from the union may
have been part of the reason for the unit's
demise.
In 1999 the unit's activities consisted
of working details (411.7 5 hours), attending
class and range (201.5 hours), substituting
for records clerks (114.5 hours), and
riding on patrol with full time officers
(1372.5 hours). In 2001, when most of the
details and records assignments had ended,

95 percent of the hours were "ride time."
When part time officers worked
details two or more part time officers
were allowed to work together under the
supervision of a full time officer or a
part time sergeant. However, part time
officers were only allowed to ride patrol
with a full time officer. If a part time
officer came in after roll call, the full
time officer would be contacted by radio
and told "there is a rider for you at the
station." This same term, "a rider," was
also used if a civilian (a reporter or college
student) was having a "ride along."
This indicated the marginal nature of the
part time officer. In fact, some officers
would not allow any part time officer to
ride with them. There were varied reasons
for this. Some officers liked to
work alone, others did not care for the
personality of particular part time officers,
and some officers did not feel that
the part time officers were competent.
As a result of such feelings most part
time officers rode with one or two full
time officers who were their "buddies."
Although the unit may have been
important to its members, it was not a
significant component of the department.
For example, at its peak, in 1997,
there were 14 part time officers who put
in a total of 3637.5 hours. That year
there were 39 full time officers in the
department. If we assume that each full
time officer worked 40 hours a week for
50 weeks a year, then the total contribution
of part time officers to the departments
hours was only 4.5 percent in
1997. In 1998 there were 37 full time
officers. The part time unit had 11 members
that year and worked a total of
2119 hours. This was only 3 percent of
the department's total hours. And in
2001 the 6 part time officers worked a
8
total of 744 hours. This was only about 1
percent of the department's total hours.
For a few of the full time officers,
the part time officers were "chums" with
whom they enjoyed riding. In other words,
they were entertainment during long,
tedious shifts. However for other officers
riding with a part time officer was a burden
the department expected them to fulfill. In
other words, for these officers the part time
officers were an annoyance. And, as we
mentioned, some full time officers refused
to ride with any part time officer. Most
importantly, the full time officers did not
need the part time officers to do their jobs.
So, from a personal, as well as a departmental
standpoint, the part time officers
were marginal.
POLICE SOCIALIZATION: THE
ACADEMY
There have been few studies of part
time police officers. (These officers are
often called reserves or auxiliaries.) These
officers may be armed and ride on patrol
with full time officers, or they may be
unarmed and perform traffic control or
community service functions. The literature
on part time officers is primarily form the
1960's and 1970's and appears to be the
product of the police reform movement of
that era (Berg and Doerner, C988; Brown,
1976; Greenburg, 1978, 1979; Washnis,
1976: 83-89; King, 1960). There is no
research on the socialization of part time
officers.
Although there have been no studies
of the socialization of part time officers
there has been research on the socialization
of cadets at police academies. For example,
Harris (1973, 1978) observed that the academy
instilled in the cadets: masculinity,
defensiveness, professionalism, and deper-

sonalization. It also fostered group solidarity,
a propensity to cut corners, and a
cops-and-robbers mentality. Gross
(1991) found that cadets feared physical
danger, but they also feared organizational
sanctions and court appearances.
Harris (1973) noted that the academy
instilled a code of silence and fraternal
bonding. This occurred in order to avoid
departmental reprimands. Van Maanen
(1973) observed that most recruits found
the academy to be a required, but
tedious, stage in their police careers.
This stage required cadets to give
absolute obedience to departmental
rules, endure rigorous physical training,
and tolerate dull lectures (see also: Van
Maanen, 1972, 1975, 1978a, 1978b;
McCreedy, 1980).
The academy also begins the
process of forming the "police personality."
This personality is highly authoritarian,
conventional, moralistic, domineering,
rigid, and hostile (Adlam,
1982). Austin (1987) and Klopsch
(1983) have argued that such personality
types self-select themselves for police
work. However, research on police
socialization has shown this not to be
the case. Most police recruits are similar
to other members of their cohort.
However, intensive socialization in the
academy funnels recruits into a narrow
ideological perspective (Hopper, 1977;
Conti,2000: 141,217). Tenerowicz
(1992) found that the academy made the
officers more aggressive, defensive,
controlling, domineering, rigid, and
insensitive. Also, police officers came to
identify themselves with power figures
and were preoccupied with issues of
dominance, strength, and leadership.
Conti (2000) observed that most of the
idealistic cadets or those merely curious
9
about a police career, dropped out of the
academy. He found that the majority of the
cadets who completed the academy had a
"realistic" perspective on police work,
which they had gained from previous law
enforcement experience (see also: Hopper,
1977). However, Maghan (1988) found in
his research that cadets were not just
trained to be authority figures. Instead, they
were also trained to be service oriented. In
this process, the recruits had to learn to
decide the "amoral issue" of when to render
service and when to enforce the law.
Waddington (1999) noted that police
. subculture developed at the academy. This
subculture stressed mission, macho attitudes,
an us-versus-them mentality, and the
emergence of cynicism. However, what also
developed were the twin essentials of the
police role: authority and danger. And this
authority was ultimately based upon coer­
CIOn.
THE USE OF FORCE
Although the academy may be
important in police socialization,
Neiderhoffer has a different view: "When
the recruit finally meets older members of
the force ... the more experienced men tell
him that in order to become a real policeman,
he will have to forget everything he
learned at the academy" (1967:162).
Similarly, Wilson has reported that learning
the craft of policing occurred by on-the-Job
apprenticeship (1968:283), and, Van
Maanen noted that new police officers
learned their profession from their fieldtraining
officers. These new officers were
tested on "hot" or "heavy" calls. Such calls
required "real police work" and were "the
measure of the man" (1973:413).
The part time officers that were studied
did not attend the academy. Instead,
their training was on-the-job. This allowed

a window into their socialization. Since
they worked only occasionally, this
socialization occurred haltingly-in bits
and pieces. And, since they worked relatively
few hours, they spent their entire
careers, in practice, as rookies.
This window allowed for the illumination
of a major blind spot for
Kraska and his colleagues. That is, they
did not appreciate that police work is the
non-negotiable use of coercion (Bittner,
1978). That is, the officer's job is to control
a situation and gain compliance or
control.
He or she does this through force.
Such force can be verbal, non-verbal,
psychological, or physical. Verbal force
can range from requests ("Please sit
down.") to commands ("Drop the
knife!"). Non-verbal communication
may consist of body position or hand
movements. Psychological force may be
the officer's office, badge, uniform, or
equipment. And, physical force can
range from a light touch to the use of
deadly force (see: Rubenstein, 1973:
221,233,260).
One point that is rarely appreciated
by outsiders is that citizen encounters
with police officers are almost always
reactive. That is, officers respond to the
cues or actions of the citizen. A citizen's
actions can vary widely. They can consist
of:
a) Verbal or non-verbal
danger cues;
b) Unwillingness to comply
with an officer's
directions;
c) Refusal to move;
d) Pulling away from or
pushing an officer;
e) Physically attacking
an officer;
10
f) Attempting to disarm an
officer; or
g) Attacking an officer with
a weapon.
The first step in this process is gaining
citizen compliance through command
presence. Command presence is a quality
that conveys authority and the physical
ability to back it up. Command presence,
coupled with weapons skills, allows officers
to control almost all situations. It is
this control that allows officers to do their
job. One officer commented that all you
need on the street is "the brains God gave
you, your gun and command presence. If it
came right down to it, you could do without
the brains and the gun, but God help
you if you don't have command presence"
(Barker, 1999:69-70; see also: Rubenstein,
1973: 267-8,295-6). One part time officer
put it somewhat differently: "When I'm
dealing with someone, no matter how nice
or how stern I am, I have to convey to
them-through body position, tone of voice,
or words-that if things go sour I'm going to
knock them on their ass."
POLICE-CITIZEN ENCOUNTERS
Although the public does not appreciate
it the great majority of police work
does not involve the use of force. It simply
involves talking. For example, a study of
New York City patrol officers found that
they used force in one-tenth of one percent
of all police citizen encounters. Firearms
were used in only 5 of the 1,762 incidents
that the officers used in any form of force
(cited in Geller and Scott, 1992:61; see
also: Sexton, 1998).
The data from this study confirms
this point. The researcher observed 1,338
police-citizen encounters over the sevenyear
period of the research. The 1,338

police-citizen contacts were divided into
ten categories: traffic incidents, the
investigation of suspicious persons or
incidents, reports, disturbances, assistance
calls, warrant service, other
arrests, handling the mentally ill, juvenile
apprehensions, and miscellaneous.
In brief, these ten categories of
police-citizen encounters produced the
following results: Traffic incidents
(including traffic stops) involved 520
police-citizen encounters. Thirty-one
arrests were the result of these incidents.
There were 287 calls of suspicious persons
or incidents. No arrests resulted
from any of these calls. Seventy-six
reports were taken. There were 154 disturbance
calls. Sixty-one of these were
family disturbances. These produced 5
arrests. There were 93 non-family disturbances.
Three individuals were arrested
in these incidents. There were 104 assistance
calls. Most of these were to assist
citizens with motor vehicle problems.
There were 28 arrests for warrants.
There were 49 people arrested for other
reasons (these were usually for retail
theft, alcohol intoxication, or drug possession).
There were 12 incidents involving
mentally ill persons. All of these
individuals were turned over to their
families or transported to a hospital by
paramedics. There were 40 juvenile
apprehensions. Eleven of these juveniles
were ticketed and 15 were arrested. All
but one was turned over to their parents.
There were 53 miscellaneous calls or
duties (administrative assignments, carnivals,
parades, 4th of July celebrations,
etc).
The details of these police-citizen
encounters are not what one would
expect. The police are usually perceived
of as crime fighters who rush from call
11
to call. (It sometimes is said that police
officers are "slaves to their radios").
However, this does not appear to be the
case. Five hundred and twenty police-citizen
contacts were for traffic incidents (39
percent of all police-citizen encounters).
There were 24 traffic accidents, 62 calls to
back up another officer on a traffic stop,
and 6 calls to remove traffic obstructions.
These were all dispatched by the radio.
However, officers made 428 traffic stops
. on their own initiative (32 percent of all
police-citizen encounters). These stops
were for traffic infractions or suspicious
vehicles. These stops produced 259 verbal
warnings, 63 warning tickets, 75 formal
tickets, and 31 arrests. That is, traffic stops
produced serious enforcement actions
(arrests) in only 7 percent of all traffic
stops.
There were 287 calls of suspicious
persons or incidents. No arrests were made
on any of these calls. That was because the
individuals were "GOA" - gone on arrival,
the situation was innocuous, or the persons
were given a verbal warning and sent on
their way. Seventy-six reports were taken.
A few of these were passed up to the investigators;
however, most were merely filed
away.
There were 154 disturbance calls.
Fifty-six of these were family disturbances.
These calls were treated seriously because
of their potential for violence. Even though
blows were struck in a number of these
cases only 5 arrests occurred. That was
because these incidents were usually seen
as the product of long standing disputes
between family members of intimates that
could only be solved by the persons
involved. (In some states there are mandatory
arrest statutes if violence has occurred
in a domestic disturbance. However, in the
state in which the research was conducted

the decision to arrest in such situations
is left up to the discretion of the officer).
On such calls the individuals were separated,
calmed down, counseled, and a
resolution was usually reached when one
party agreed to leave the scene. Other
disturbances such as loud parties or
teenagers throwing firecrackers were
handled more routinely (there were 90
of these calls). They produced only 3
arrests.
There were 104 assistance calls.
Nine of these were to assist the fire
department or paramedics and 14 were
to assist other police agencies. Eightyone
of these calls were to assist a citizen.
These were usually the result of a
vehicle break down or "lockout." The
department expected the officers to
respond to these calls since the chief
stressed that the department was a service-oriented
agency.
There were 28 warrant arrests. In
many of these cases the warrant was
used as a tool to remove an individual
from the street when the officers lacked
enough evidence for an arrest. There
were 49 other arrests. These include
retail theft, intoxicated individuals, or
young adults carrying small amounts of
drugs.
Twelve mentally ill persons were
apprehended. None of these individuals
had committed a serious crime. Instead,
they had come to police attention
because they had been "disorderly".
Since they were not considered to be
criminals they were released to relatives
without a charge or transported to a hospital
by paramedics for evaluation and
treatment.
Forty juveniles were apprehended.
Fifteen juvenile arrests were made and
tickets were issued to eleven other juve-
12
niles. Thirteen juveniles were not charged
and were released to their parents. One
youth was turned over to a state affiliated
social service agency for foster care placement.
All these calls were considered to be
a nuisance by the officers. It was common
for officers to say that juvenile apprehensions
were a waste of time since "nothing
ever happens to these kids."
Fifty-four calls were listed under
"miscellaneous." Twenty of these were for
routine administrative functions such as
vehicle repairs or the delivery of reports.
Also included in this category were carnivals,
parades, and 4th of July celebrations.
Some officers considered these assignments
to be fun since they could "meet and
greet" the public. Other officers considered
them to be tedious. In either case, they did
not involve individual calls; instead they
consisted of non-criminal functions such as
crowd control and traffic directions.
These 1,358 incidents produced 131
arrests of all kinds. This is less than 10 percent
of all police-citizen encounters. In
other words, in 90 percent of all cases
police officers dealt with citizens by talking.
In fact, there were only 5 instances
during the 7 years in which the researcher
observed officers pull their guns. No shots
were fired in these situations. The
researcher witnessed only 2 fights in 7
years between officers and civilians (one
was very brief and the other was the repeated
restraint of a drunken driver). However,
during the research an incident occurred in
which one officer was shot and one suspect
was killed. The researcher was not present
at the incident.
POLICE SOCIALIZATION: THE
STREET
As was mentioned, the vast majority
of police work consists of talk. However,

myoId mommy and pulled her hair."
Meanwhile, the ex-wife and her husband
had driven to the station to report that
the other woman had assaulted her. The
two officers returned to the station to
speak to her. The ex-wife had wanted to
press charges; however, the full time
officer explained that in the end nothing
would happen to the women. After a two
hour discussion the officers convinced
the women to simply pick up the children
and take them for the weekend. The
officers then drove back to the house.
They parked across the street. The wife
and her husband were standing in front
of the garage. The officers got out of the
squad car and they walked up opposite
sides of the driveway. As they
approached the couple the FTO suddenly
reached for his gun. The other officer
was stunned. However, the FTO just as
suddenly relaxed. A few minutes later
the children were picked up and the
other couple drove off. Once the officers
returned to the squad car the part time
officer said: "What was that?" The full
time officer said: "The husband leaned
over to me and said, "She's got a knife."
So I went for my gun. And then he said,
"But I took it away from her." So I
stopped. The FTO asked, "So, what
would you have done if she had a
knife?" The new part time officer haltingly
answered: "I would have pulled my
baton out ... and circled around her. .. and
tried to knock the knife out of her
hand?" "Hugh!" the FTO blurted out as
he threw his hands into the air. It was as
if he had said: "You God-damned liberal!"
Then the FTO said, "No, you pull
you gun and you say, "Drop the knife!
Drop the knife! Drop the knife!" until
she does. (Later, the new officer
explained: "Since the other officer
14
would have drawn his gun I thought it was
worth the chance to pull out my baton, circle
around, and knock the knife out of her
hand, because I didn't want to shoot a
drunken, five foot tall, 100 pound, suburban
housewife ... " His voice trailed off.)
A few months later he had changed.
The same two officers conducted a traffic
stop on a car with four suspected gang
members. The two officers exited the squad
car. As they did, a second vehicle pulled up
across the street with four more gang members.
Fearing that they were going to be
attacked, · the full time officer radioed for a
back-up unit. The part time officer then
rushed across the street to confront the
other gang members. The part time officer,
who was not large, blocked their path,
threw out his chest, and stared them down.
In the end, the incident turned out to have
been harmless and everyone drove off.
Afterwards I asked the officer, who is
known as easy going and affable, about his
behavior. He replied: "I'm a mean mother
and if you __ with me I'll kill
you!" He had changed.
Later on he changed even more. He
described a session of his at computerized
firearms training simulator: "The simulator
is set up in a 15 by 30 foot room. They turn
off the lights and a scenario is projected on
to a screen while you respon§ with a simulated
weapon that is tied to the computer.
There are a number of scenarios with multiple
endings. If you fire your weapon the
computer shows where your rounds go. I've
done this a number of times. Some of the
scenarios are easy, that is, the choice is
obvious. However, others are more ambiguous,
judgment calls. Each time I did it I got
better-making' the right call. Recently, I
had a session with two hostage situations.
In one, my partner and I staked out a driveup
banking facility where a number of rob-

eries had taken place. In the scenario a
guy sneaks around the comer of the
bank and robs someone in a car. Our
squad car zooms up and we catch the
guy in the act. My partner and I pull our
guns. The offender puts his gun to the
drivers head and ducks behind the car
door. I yell, "Drop the gun! Drop the
gun!" He doesn't respond. I yell, "Drop
the gun! Nobody has to get hurt. Drop
the gun!" I wait. He doesn't move. I yell,
"Drop the gun! Nobody has to die here.
Drop the gun!" He fires and kills the
hostage. I fire, hit the car door, and he
escapes. I'm ... I'm disconsolate. That's
not a cop word, but that was how I felt. I
felt like ... crap.
"In the second scenario, I'm off
duty and picking something out of a
cooler in the back of a convenience
store. This hype comes in and sticks a
gun in the clerk's face. No mask, no
nothin', and he wants the money. I draw
my gun and yell, "Police, drop the gun!"
He doesn't even hear me. His gun is
shakin'. He's so into this he doesn't
know I exist. I yell again, "Police, drop
your gun!" Nothin'. I wait. He shoots the
clerk. I fire and miss him as he goes out
the door. I slump. One of the instructors,
trying to console me, says, "Judgment
call, judgment calL" The other instructor
says, "Ya' know, if it was me, I would
have sat there and got a bead on this guy
and" ... I didn't even hear the rest. That's
it! I thought to myself, I should have
shot the guy. I was too soft. I'm such a
great talker, and I'm a cop, and I've got a
gun. How could he not surrender? Now
the two hostages were dead and the two
bad guys got away-"cause I was too
soft! I should have shot them!"
This was the same officer who on
the first day of firearms training had
15
raised his hand when asked if there was
anyone who was not sure they could take a
life. He later said that he felt that the computer
session was the culmination of his
training; he now felt that he was a cop.
CONCLUSION:
Kraska and his colleagues find the
use of force by police officers to be distasteful.
However, police rarely use force.
When an individual refuses to comply with
a police order then the officer must overcome
that resistance. In other words, force
is only one tool that officers have at their
. disposal, but, if all else fails, then force
becomes the tool that must be used.
REFERENCES:
Adlam, K.R (1982). The Police Personality:
Psychological Consequences of Being a
Police Officer. Journal of Police Science
and Administration, 10, 344-349.
Austin, T.L.,et.ai. (1987). The Effects of Lay-Off
on Police Authoritarianism. Criminal
Justice Behavior, 14, 191-210.
Barker, Ie. (1999). Danger, Duty and Disillusion.
Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
Berg, B.L. and Doerner, WG. (1988). Volunteer
Police Officers: An Unexamined
Personnel Dimension in Law
Enforcement. American Journal of
Police, 7, 81-89.
Bittner, E. (1978). The Functions of the Police in
Modern Society. In PK. Manning and I
Van Maanen (Eds.) Policing: A View
From the Street. (pp.32-50). N.Y.:
Random House.
Brown, E.I, Jr. (1976). The Police Reserve
Officer in Dallas, Texas. Texas Police
Journal, 24, 5-15.

Conti, N.P. (2000). Creating The Thin Blue
Line. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
University of Pittsburgh.
Geller, WA. and M. Scott. (1992) Deadly
Force: What We KnOw. Washington,
D.C.: Police Executive Research
Forum.
Greenburg, M. (1978) Auxiliary Civilian
Police-The New York City
Experience. Journal of Police Science
and Administration, 6, 86-97.
Greenburg, M. (1979). Police Volunteers: Are
They Really Necessary? In R. G.
Iacovetta and D.H. Chang. Critical
Issues in Criminal Justice. Durham,
N.C.: Carolina Academic Press.
Gross, P.R. (1991). The Structure of
Occupational Fears in Police Recruits.
Police Studies, 14, 176-179.
Harris, R.N. (1973). The Police Academy: An
Inside View. N.Y.: Wiley.
Harris, R.N. (1978). The Police Academy and
the Professional Self-Image. Tn P.K.
Manning and 1. Van Maanen (Eds.).
Policing: A View from the Street.
(pp.273-291). N.Y.: Random House.
Hipper, M. (1977). Becoming a Policeman:
Socialization of Cadets in a Police
Academy. Urban Life, 6, 149-170.
King, E.M. (1960). The Auxiliary Police Unit.
Springfield, IL: Thomas.
Klopsch, 1.W (1983). Police Personality
Change as Measured by the MMPI: A
Fine-Year Longitudinal Study.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation.
Fuller Theological Seminary.
Kraska, P. (1993). Militarizing the Drug War:
A Sign of the Times. Peter B. Kraska
(Ed). Altered States of Mind. NY:
Garland.
16
Kraska, P. (1996). Enjoying Militarism Political,
Personal Dilemmas In Studying U.S.
Police Paramilitary Units. Justice
Quarterly, 13,405-29.
Kraska, P. (1997a). Militarizing Mayberry and
Beyond: Making Sense of American
Paramilitary. Policing. Justice Quarterly,
14,607-629.
Kraska, P. (1997b). The Military as Drug Police.
Gaines, L.K. and Kraska, P. 'eds. Drugs,
Crime and Justice. Prospect Heights, IL:
Waveland.
Kraska, P. and Cubellis, L. (1997). Militarizing
Mayberry and Beyond: Making Sense of
American Paramilitary Policing. Justice
Quarterly, 14, 607-629.
Kraska, P. and Kappeler, VE. (1997). Militarizing
American Police: The Rise and
Normalization of Paramilitary Units.
Social Problems, 44, 1-18.
Kraska, P. and Paulsen, D.1. (1997). Grounded
Research into U.S. Paramilitary Policing:
Forging the Iron Fist Inside the Velvet
Glove. Policing and Society, 7, 253-70.
Maghoen, 1.L. (1988).The 21st Century Cap:
Police Recruit Perceptions as a Function
of Occupational Socialization.
Unpublished doctoral 'di§.sertation. City
of University of New York.
McCreedy, K.R. (1988). The Impact of a Police
Academy on the Socialization of New
Officers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation.
University of Southern California.
Neiderhoffer, A. (1967). Behind the Shield.
Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.
Rubenstein, 1. (1973). City Police. New York:
Ballantine.
Sexton, 1. The Culture of Cops and Guns. (Jan.
11, 1988). New York Times, p.20wk.

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