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Police Subculture

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Police Subculture

Korey LaMothe
Criminal Justice Senior Capstone
2/4/15

“If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.” Martin Luther King Jr.

Encounters with death can have a profound impact on the psychological health of an individual. Few occupations, outside of the medical field, entail as intense and frequent exposure to death than does those in the law enforcement field. The effect of such exposure on individual law enforcement officers, and upon the subculture as a whole, is both damaging and functional. “Themes, images, and symbols of death pervade the folklore of the police subculture” (Henry). This is something that all the members of the law enforcement community have to deal with on a daily basis, but at what cost?
A subculture is defined as, “a cultural group within a larger culture, often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger culture” (Merriam Webster). These beliefs and interests can include things like language, ideological values, gender roles, social conventions, religion, or artistic expression through things like paintings, books or films. Any group that shares interests can be a subculture such as school groups, church groups, civic organizations, sports teams, or people in a particular profession.
The police subculture is a feeling of brotherhood, or tremendous group loyalty that exists among law enforcement officers. An unwritten creed, it can lead officers to support their law enforcement brethren at the expense of all else. Responding immediately, and in strength to an ‘officer in distress’ call would be a positive result of this belonging. However, the strong emotions involved can also lead to a deadly over-reaction during that same call. It can cause officers to believe that only fellow officers are able to understand them, sometimes to the exclusion

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