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A Perspective on Police Professionalization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Susan O. White
Susan O. White*
Affiliation:
University of New Hampshire
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In the reform literature on the police, ranging from Hopkins' Our Lawless Police and the Wickersham Commission Reports in the 1930s to the Presidential Commissions of the 1960s, the argument has always been made that effective police reform waits upon professionalization. It is implied that better personnel, with better training, will provide better performance of police tasks. The recruitment and training proposals that are offered suggest that criteria such as a college degree are necessary in order to encourage adherence to “high professional standards of law enforcement.” Few have challenged the implicit assumption that professionalization is indeed efficacious, despite the fact that clear evidence of better performance has never been offered.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 7 , Issue 1: Special Issue on European Sociology of Law , Fall 1972 , pp. 61 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © The Law and Society Association, 1972.

Footnotes

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The author is indebted to the American Association of University Women and to the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, for support during the conduct of this research. The research assistance of Roger C. Schaefer is gratefully acknowledged.

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