"You Can't Really Turn it Off": The Police "Sixth Sense" as Cultural Schema

• In Event: Navigating Risky Spaces: Tacit Knowledge in the Neighborhood, Prison, on the Beat and Online

Abstract

A variety of concepts in the police literature denote a so-called “sixth sense” that police officers are believed to possess while carrying out their work. “Intuition” (Bittner 1972; Pinizzotto et al 2004), “suspicion” (Crank 1998; Skolnick 1994), or “common sense” (McNulty 1994; VanMaanen 1973) represent just a few terms used to specify a “tacit knowledge” said to heighten an officer’s sensitivity to danger and strengthen his/her ability to identify wrongdoers. This paper argues that this particular type of knowledge exemplifies the application of cultural schema (DiMaggio 1997; Vaisey 2009); it allows a person to respond to environmental stimuli in ways that render their occupational lives more predictable, and therefore safer. Drawing on 100 interviews and observations collected over the course of 18 months in the police department of a Canadian city, the police “sixth-sense” is reconsidered and empirically assessed in light of theoretical advances made in the area of cultural sociology. The article further discusses the benefit of studying this “sixth sense” itself as a form of cultural knowledge – that is, as “police culture” – in order to improve our understanding of which cultural resources are most compatible with emerging strategies to reduce police use of force and improve community relations.

Author

• Holly Campeau, University of Alberta