Posted: July 15th, 2023

Case Study_Barton

Question description

Officer Barton joined a big city police department six years ago. Hewas a high school graduate from a middle-class family in a smalltown. His parents spoke French, English, and Spanish, and he wasfluent in all three languages. His first six months in the department(after the academy) was an eye-opener and somewhat of acultural shock. At first he was lost, and he had some difficulty inadjusting to the lifestyles of a big city. It soon became apparentthat the police had bonds of loyalty and secrecy and that therewas a general feeling of “us against them.” He found that he waspart of a subculture that demanded a high level of esprit decorps and solidarity. It was soon apparent that the officers heworked with viewed themselves as the “thin blue line.” His fellowofficers that were in his academy class came from varyingbackgrounds, and most of them had lived in metropolitan areas allof their lives. They shared diverse values, attitudes, andperspectives. Slowly but surely the officers felt the need to belongand assimilated the new subculture, and in relatively shorttime, they became comfortable interacting with one another. Theybecame a source of mutual support to each other.Robert Barton, like most of his peers, started out slowlyand was somewhat overawed by the total process, but in time hebegan to think, act, and feel like a cop. He wanted to be a goodcop. His goals were to preserve the peace and to protect peopleand society from criminals. Barton placed a relatively high valueon individual rights and due process of law. He really wanted toprotect and serve, but with the reality of the street and the socialstatus that he sought, within the group, he quickly accepted thenorms and values of his peers and of his field training officers(FTO). Barton was a good candidate for the socialization processand quickly learned the importance of going along with the flow.The taboos were readily apparent such as failure to back up anofficer who is in danger and above all exhibit bravery in the faceof danger or suffer the consequences and be ostracized by thegroup. Barton also learned that his immediate sergeant would bethe most important in his life while working. This proved to beespecially true during the two-year probationary period.After three years in the patrol division, Officer Barton wasreassigned. He was placed in a Joint Gang Task Force, which consistedof 26 investigators and 1 supervisor from 6 jurisdictionswho formed a tightly knit work group. This was a group that wasjust organized, and he wanted to become a full-fledged memberof the group.It consisted of a homogeneous and cohesive group ofbilingual people who identified with each other and shared a uniqueset of values, attitudes, and beliefs related to their job. Based on continualface-to face interaction among themselves and with gangmembers, they soon became a viable component in the effort tocontrol gang activities. It was immediately apparent that the taskforce rewarded loyalty, secrecy, and conformity to group-sharedexpectations. Their highest priority was to suppress gang activity toreduce the occurrence of gang-related crimes. Some of the activitiesthe task force performed skirted the law, and it was not uncommonthat they conducted illegal searches and stopped many individualswho were not known to have a gang affiliation. In otherinstances, arrests were made without probable cause, and manysuspected gang members were booked and then released. In otherwords, get them off of the street. Although Bob Barton tried toremain neutral and adhere to his set of personal values, he neededrecognition, support, and approval from the group. Subconsciously,he wanted to be a “stand-up guy,” and he felt compelled to sacrificehis standards to achieve acceptance and status from the workgroup. Membership in the group became an end in itself. Abstractnotions of right and wrong became irrelevant to him. Integrity consistedof loyalty to and protection of the group. The rationalizationwas that no one really got hurt, and there was a real need to preservepeace in the communities.1) Using concepts related to groups and group dynamics, explainwhat happened in this situation. 2) When does group cohesiveness cease to be positive and become pathological? 3) Are subcultures in police work inevitable? Explain. 4) What steps might you take, as a police administrator, to prevent this from occurring?Write 900-word paper. APA format w/reference**ORIGINAL & PLAGRISM free work only and NO recycled paper!!!****

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