The police officers as social workers.
Probably, there is not as needed and demanded profession, as a profession of police officers. Always and everywhere, at any time, in any society, there is a need to maintain public order, to comply with the law, to ensure the protection of citizens.
There is no such a dangerous profession as a police officer’s job. By risking lives, the police officers are involved in operations to capture particularly dangerous and armed criminals, in search of thieves, to reveal serious thefts.
There is no such other profession where you must necessarily have a certain set of professional and personal qualities, that’s called appropriate police behavior. Of course, nobody speaks of supermen with supernatural abilities. We see such officers only in motion pictures. In real life, police officers are serious, responsible, courageous people.
Police officers are professionals. In order to effectively protect the rule of law and legitimate interests of citizens, officers must detain violators of the law in society quickly, and without any risk, officers must comply with modern standards.
Police officers are everywhere and always. Officers are not only in offices and posts but also in educational institutions, points of sale, stadiums, theaters, cinemas, railways and air transport, motorways, metro and other places of a mass gathering of society. Usually, representatives of police subculture have to patrol a certain area, go to the scene of the crime, and into the zone of holding certain public actions.
Requirements for candidates of police subculture are quite solid. It is clear that police officers should not have a criminal record, be physically and mentally healthy. The test for physical training and passing psychological examination is compulsory. In addition, periodic submission of standards for shooting and physical training is required from police officers.
The concept of police subculture.
Talking about police subculture, let’s, first of all, define who police officers are. Police officers are people responsible for protecting the rules of law in society, protecting the legitimate interests of people by preventing the offense. The main task of the police officers is the protection of public order. Officers have the right to carry out a number of actions: to check documents from a citizen, to demand from the public the observance of social norms and rules, even to detain the public on the basis of suspicion of committing a crime and deliver responsible for instance for violence to the police station.
In cases stipulated by law, officers may enter the premises, use public transport belonging to organizations and individuals, and if necessary, to use special means (including firearms), etc.
Police officers were ranked the fifth most stressful job in the world.
Police subculture is responsible for giving officers a unique working attitude and mindset. According to Adler, Mueller, and Laufer (1994) police subculture is a “set of norms and values that govern the behavior of officers, brought about by stressful working conditions plus daily interaction with an often hostile public.”
The police officers must possess such values as responsibility, honesty, courage, self-confidence, resistance to stress, analytical mind, general resourcefulness, quick response, strong physical form. And it is not just male officers; it can be women officers as well. Women representatives began to work in the police more than a hundred years ago. During this time, women have shown themselves as skilled workers who can protect the rule of law at the same level as men.
Police subculture is a general study that teaches police officers the police behavior and the correct attitude to certain values and beliefs. Indeed, police subculture affects every citizen of our society. The most important thing of police subculture is the idea of insiders and outsiders that lies at the core of all its values.
According to the beliefs of police subculture, the police officers are the main guardian of order in public. No large public event takes place without officers. In the cases of a threat to human life, health or property, or in the cases of violence, general danger over a human life, police officers must come to the rescue.
Police officers are responsible for acting exclusively within the public law, and therefore has no right to endanger even those who violate the order, whether it is men or women. It is possible for officers to use force, firearms, and injuries only in extreme cases, which are described separately in the law.
The police officers patrol the streets, conduct training lectures and conversations in various public organizations, consider complaints and suggestions of the population, carry out preventive measures to prevent violence and other crimes.
Police subculture affects police behavior. Officers are public representatives, and they are responsible for the public order. According to police subculture, officers can’t cause frustration or show a negative example for any citizen. Police subculture is very strict. The behavior of officers should be based on a positive attitude toward men and women, should spread moral values in public.
Police officers work with educational institutions, conduct open lectures and various events. The main goal is to convey to the younger generation the full importance of the work of police officers, that is, to warn them against making the wrong choice in life and committing crimes.
As a part of police subculture, a police officer must take responsibility for himself and others, make important decisions and be calm in critical situations (hostage taking, a large number of victims, domestic problems in families, violence against young girls and children, a description of property).
The importance of police subculture.
As far as you can see, the profession of police officers is an important, responsible and dangerous field of public activity. The beliefs of police officers are based on federal, regional and district laws, as well as on police subculture. At the same time, police subculture is the concepts, with values of which the work of officers would be lust a frustration because police affect all the spheres of human existence.
You may ask what the challenges are facing the police officers? The main values of a police officer are to maintain order in public places, to stop and detain offenders, and to explain to offenders what they are wrong about, what is the cause of their arrest.
In the minds of most people, the profession of “police officers” is associated with catching criminals, dangerous incidents and situations, fighting, and surveillance. However, there is a reverse side of the coin. Still, for the most part, the officer’s job is to prevent general crime and violence.
Probably there is no more such a hard profession as a police officer’s job. Severe conditions of service, constant psychological stress, the need to communicate with the “scum of society” and to remain a person with the high values at the same time – all these are complex issues that police offices solve every day.
The profession of police officers it’s not just interesting, it should be not a job, and not even a career, but a vocation and a lifestyle without a piece of frustration. In police subculture, officers make life better for other people and society as a whole. Because of that important cause, every citizen should respect the labor of officers.
