Table Of ContentFORENSICS & CRIMINAL JUSTICE
S
i
l
v
e
r
ii
Cop Culture
Why Good Cops Go Bad
Sworn to protect and serve, police officers who stray into deviant behavior may become
a citizen’s worst nightmare. A thoughtful examination of the formal and informal
Cop
process of becoming blue, Cop Culture: Why Good Cops Go Bad is a unique combination
of academic research based on Chief Scott Silverii’s doctoral dissertation and more than
two decades in law enforcement. The book seeks to answer the ultimate question: why
do good cops become bad cops?
Culture
Demonstrating the highly seductive and overwhelmingly influential culture of policing, C
the book presents interviews and observations by officers from across the country that
o
explore how individuals may devolve into an aberrant subcultural fraternity. Chief
p
Silverii explains the damaging effects upon the officers’ personal lives as they segregate
from social and moral anchors and attach themselves to a lifestyle that may eventually Why
C
bump up to criminality. Against the backdrop of the principles for organizational
theory, acculturation, occupational socialization, and group culture, practical examples u
Good Cops
from real-life officers explain abstract ideals such as the “thin blue line” and the “code l
t
of silence.”
u
Go Bad
r
This book is the first of its kind to combine an anthropological ethnography examining
e
policing’s cultural expectancies with real-life experiences. By exploring the subculture
of policing in vivid detail, it exposes the causes behind the separation from organiza-
tional ideals and a false status of detrimental hegemonic entitlement. Chief Silverii’s
covert participant observations, semi-structured interviews, meta-analysis of relevant
literature, and personal experiences provide readers with a scintillating panorama of
this pervasive, destructive process. Chief Silverii also offers practical, proven solutions
for creating a culture of change based on accountable, productive public service.
K22229
L. Scott Silverii, PhD
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Cop
Culture
Why
Good Cops
Go Bad
Cop
Culture
Why
Good Cops
Go Bad
L. Scott Silverii, PhD
Boca Raton London New York
CRC Press is an imprint of the
Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
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This work is dedicated to those who have worn the badge, those
who are wearing the badge, and those who will wear the badge.
No matter what, my Brothers and Sisters, don’t
tarnish our badge. Always do the right thing.
Yes, it’s just that simple.
CONTENTS
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xxiii
Author Biography xxv
1
The Blue Line Mystique 1
Liminality 3
Standing at the Threshold of the Thin Blue Line 5
Behaving Badly 6
Grass Eaters versus Meat Eaters 7
Priests, Prostitutes, and Penn State 8
Endnotes 9
2
Special Operations Groups 11
Focus Group 12
Why SOG 14
SWAT: Behind the Ballistic Shield 16
A Look Back before Ahead 17
Militarization Culture 19
Endnotes 21
3
Studying a Secret Culture 23
Investigative Objective 24
Challenges for Cultural Research 25
Deficiencies in Current Literature 26
Significance of Studying Cop Culture 27
Who Does This Affect? 28
vii
viii Contents
Asking the Right Questions 28
Who Benefits from Studying Police Culture? 29
Factors Threatening the Investigation 29
Endnotes 31
4
History of Policing in America 33
English Origin 33
Three Eras of American Policing 35
The Political Era 35
The Professional Era 38
August Vollmer Leads the Evolution 38
The Wickersham Commission Report 39
O. W. Wilson 40
J. Edgar Hoover 41
New Police Technologies 41
Technology of Television 43
Community-Oriented Policing and Problem-Solving Era 44
COP Model 45
Counterterrorism Model 46
POP Model 46
CPTED Model 46
Other Adaptations for COP Model 47
What Is the Next Era? 47
Endnotes 47
5
Occupational Socialization 49
Fitting In 50
Bureaucratic Fraternal Order 50
Personal Effects of Cultural Conflict 53
Attitudes, Motivators, and Satisfiers 53
Marine Corps’ Motivational Method 54
Endnotes 55
6
Why Cops Quit 57
Factors Affecting Commitment 59
Perceptions of Work-Ecology 60
Do Anything to “Fit In” 62
Endnotes 63
