Perspectives on the police profession: An international investigation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify the diversity of professional perspectives on police culture in an international context.

Design/methodology/approach – In a first step the authors developed a standardized instrument of 45 occupational features for comparative analysis of police professional views. This set was inductively created from 3,441 descriptors of the police profession from a highly diverse sample of 166 police officers across eight European countries. Using this standardized instrument, Q-methodological interviews with another 100 police officers in six European countries were conducted.

Findings – The authors identified five perspectives on the police profession suggesting disparities in officers’ outlooks and understanding of their occupation. Yet, the findings also outline considerable overlaps in specific features considered important or unimportant across perspectives.

Research limitations/implications – The study emphasizes that police culture needs to be described beyond the logic of distinct dimensions in well-established typologies. Considering specific.