Police as Life World. An Ethnography of Police-Officers' Identity

• Published in: Forum, qualitative social research Vol. 3; no. 1
• Main Author: Behr, Rafael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; German
• Published: Berlin Freie Universität Berlin 01.01.2002; FQS
• Subjects: cop culture; Ethnography; Federal Republic of Germany; life world studies; masculinities; Masculinity; Methodological Problems; Organizational Culture; Police; Police Community Relations; police culture; police research; Power; State Power; subculture studies
• ISSN: 1438-5627; 1438-5627

The purpose of this paper is to present some findings and problems which I encountered during my ethnography work on several German police units conducted in 1995. Participant observation is not original, but nevertheless unusual for a study of police work. To understand the behavior and the thinking of police officers, one must regard their exclusive possession of power and their discretion for using it. The power of the police is different to the power of suspects or other individuals: Police-power is part of the monopolized state-force, the action of suspects against the police is seen as violence or obstruction. The tensions following this difference are both subject and background of stories and actions of police officers, especially for those "on the beat" (also called "street cops"). The ethnography of police-work refers to the narrations of street cops and the observation of their attitudes for "managing the job". I argue, that in contrast to the official "police culture", it can also be referred to it as "cop culture". Cop culture is significantly connected with "doing masculinity". URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0201134