Officer Barton joined a big city police department six years ago. Officer Barton was a high school graduate and he was fluent on three languages such as French, Spanish and English. Officer Barton had difficulty adjusting to the police department at beginning after graduating from the academy due to the apparent bonds of loyalty and secrecy that the department had. He had to assimilate the new subculture that the officers had and create a bond with them. Robert Barton, like most of his peers, started out slowly and was overawed by the total process, but with time he began to feel, think and act like a cop. He wanted to protect and serve the community from criminals but the reality with the streets and social status that he sought, within the group; he quickly accepted the norms and values of his peers and of his field training officers.
After three years in the patrol division, he was reassigned to the Gang task force that consisted of 26 investigators, 1 supervisor form 6 jurisdictions that formed a tightly knit work group. This group consisted of a homogeneous and cohesive group of bilingual individuals that identified with each other by having the same values, attitudes, and beliefs in relation to their job. Due to this tight relationship, the task force was able to control gang activities. But for the group to achieve this, the task force skirted the law and sometimes conducted illegal searches and stopped individuals that where known not to be related to gang affiliation.
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They were times where arrests were made without probable cause. Even though Officer Barton tried to be neutral and stick to his personal values but he felt that he needed to prove to the rest of the group that he was part of them and play a blind eye to those activities that were against his beliefs (Harry W. More, 2012).
The concepts related to groups and group dynamics explain that Officer Barton is the type of person who wants to be a stand up individual who stays firm for what he believes in. He seeks to be accepted by the task force, which is fueled by his need to be a good police officer. He has assimilated to a new group that makes him to sacrifice the cultural acceptance that comes with it.
Barton wants to succeed and he is conformed to the beliefs of his fellow officers to accomplish his success. He knows what the outcome will be if he does not act the way it is expected of him by the rest of the task force. He knows the mentality of the police department and it has developed into one that he does not like, but he knows he has to assimilate to it in order to have success within the department. Group cohesion cease to be positive when there is a clash of personalities within the group, disagreement between the members of the group concerning task or social roles, and termination in communication among group members or between group leaders and a member. Group cohesiveness will also stop being positive when one or more than one member of the group struggle to get control, a recurrent turnover of group members, and where there is a disagreement on group goals and objectives.
Group cohesiveness becomes pathological when members fear losing rank or becoming alienated and it prevents them from giving out creative but unwanted ideas or from raising the possibility that negative happening may result from actions intended by the group. The profession of policing like many others often has a subculture unto itself. police subculture praise law enforcement action and thrills for that reason these measures of law enforcement are seen as genuine work. In the place of corruption, the police subculture can either stop its existence or let it become like a virus that can fast easily spread through the department. The police subculture share attitudes, perceptions, assumptions, values, ways of living, and traditions.
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The subculture can be stronger than the officers’ relationship with his or her family. Experienced officers who have been on the job longer may test the new officers. Such as seeing the new recruits accepting gifts, which can lead to a path of corruption. As an administrator to prevent this type of behavior, the department should focus on maintaining member individuality. Workers can guide groups to create norms that encourage free and open policies to express their ideas and opinions. Policing should be ethical and it depends on the officers’ knowledge, rationality and devotion to achieve excellence. If this is not present in the department, it can become a disaster. It is true that officers are human beings and make mistakes but misconduct should not be tolerated and be addressed immediately. Also, the behavior should be modeled by the administrators who set the standards for the department.
