Choosing a career in police work: A comparative study between applicants for employment with a large police department and public high school students

Abstract

This paper examines the differential elements involved in how males and females select policing as a career. Of particular interest were individuals' interests and perceptions of competency that inhibit or enhance self-selection. Women were found to be interested and to feel competent in their ability to accomplish the separately identified tasks of policing, although were mainly uninterested in the actual job of 'policing.' Also targeting those individuals who appear to have androgynous sex-role identification may help prevent the gender role-conflict that women particularly may experience when working in a nontraditional field such as law enforcement.

Motivations for becoming a police officer: Re-assessing officer attitudes and job satisfaction after six years on the street

“…A recent Rand study of applicants at the San Diego Police Department found that the desire to help others and/or the community was the most frequently cited reason for pursuing a law enforcement career (72 percent), followed by stable employment (53 percent), job status (46 percent), and salary and benefits (46 percent) (Ridgeway et al, 2008; see also Moon & Hwang, 2004). Other studies had also highlighted altruistic motivations for entering the police force (California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, 2006;Lord & Friday, 2003). Foley, Guarneri and Kelly (2008) examined motivations over a twenty year period by surveying 131 recruits and graduates from a state police agency and comparing their results to Lester's (1983) study of officers from the same agency.…”

Toward a Balanced Approach: Defining Police Roles in Responding to Domestic Violence

“…This research encompasses the full gambit of occupations considered part of the criminal justice system, ranging from an examination of civilian applicants for employment with large police departments (Lord and Friday 2003), to prison security guards (Griffin 2002;Maahs and Pratt 2001;Philliber 1987;Sims 2001;), to the courtroom judges (Davis 2005), prosecutors (Schoenfeld 2005), and juries that dispense justice (Kautt 2002). Other research has focused on gender role conflict that women and men face in law enforcement (Lord and Friday 2003;Prokos and Padavic 2002;Wester and Lyubelsky 2005). Recently, researchers have focused on the role conflict experienced by police cadets during police training (Conti 2006;Conti and Nolan 2005;Prokos and Padavic 2002;Sun 2003).…”

“…Traditional gender roles play a large part in socializing police officers (Charles 1981;Lord and Friday 2003;Morash and Greene 1986;Prokos and Padavic 2002;Wester and Lyubelsky 2005). For example, in society men are usually associated with physical activity where women are associated with social concerns and interpersonal warmth (Charles 1981).…”

“…However, masculinity is a trait emphasized to both male and female cadets at the police academy as essential to proper policing (Prokos and Padavic 2002). Thus, women police officers, because of traditional social notions of gender, face additional role conflict working in a non-traditional field for women (Lord and Friday 2003). These societal ideas define police officers social roles by contributing to the placement of an individual officer in certain types jobs that are associated with his or her gender roles in society (Charles 1981).…”

Power Relationships within the UK Police Service: Towards Enhanced Female Career Progression

“…If not, they are frequently passed over, possibly as a result of their exclusion in the informal male networks where business still appears to be done. Wider society continues to perceive policing as predominantly male (Lord & Friday, 2003;Rabe-Hemp, 2009). Without the establishment of a positive and powerful influencer it seems that the majority of female officers are destined to remain in the lower ranks resulting in a depletion of the talent pool that exists within the service.…”