Police Culture: Measuring Values, Attitudes and Discriminatory Experiences in the German Federal Criminal Police Office

• In Event: POL Panel 14. Police Culture

Abstract

In Germany, as in many countries throughout Europe, highly publicized incidents of police misconduct have sparked a debate about individual and structural discrimination as supposedly endemic features of policing. The debate centers around mechanisms that potentially explain, e.g., discriminatory behavior of police staff (police organizations supposed tendency to attract and select staff with traditional values and authoritarian attitudes; stressful working environments; lack of positive out-group contact; exaggerated sense of loyalty). At the same time police culture is expected to undergo substantive changes due to an increasing number of female officers, officers with minority status, and the hiring of professionals with substantial work experience from outside policing. Research on how this transformation of the police workforce affects values, attitudes, and discriminatory practices or structures remains scarce. Therefore, the German Federal Criminal Police Office had a study conducted with the objective of gaining a profound understanding of its work culture: Which personal, democratic and work values are important for its employees? What political and societal attitudes do they hold? Which problems do they see when putting their values into practice? Who experiences discriminatory behavior and what makes such experiences more likely? To answer these questions an organization-wide online-survey (n = 1.843, response rate 23%) was conducted. Results of this online-survey will be presented with a focus on: (A) values, attitudes, and experiences of discriminatory behavior – compared to benchmark data (general population, other organizations); (B) potential interrelations of these factors with key socio-demographic (e.g., minority status, gender) and work-related characteristics (e.g. work-related stressors); (C) interrelations with sense of loyalty; organizational identification, commitment, and work satisfaction.

Authors

• Johanna Marie Wührl, Bundeskriminalamt

• Mathias Weber, Bundeskriminalamt

• Clemens Striebing, Fraunhofer IAO

• Jannick Schneider, Fraunhofer IAO

• Katharina Hochfeld, Fraunhofer IAO