Deck 5: Police Sub-Culture

Question 1

In which of these locales do police officers perform daily tasks that involve interaction with ordinary citizens?

A) the stationhouse
B) the street environment
C) the courthouse
D) the prison

Answer 1

B

Question 2

In terms of police subculture, the transfer of officers results in what?

A) many periods of reduced performance while officers re-acclimate
B) fresh perspectives shed on investigations and workflows
C) the spread of knowledge about co-workers from the larger department
D) an increase in socialization between and among officers

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following is an institutional value that is ubiquitous in policing?

A) personal responsibility
B) centralization
C) decentralization
D) a traditional approach to managing police organizations

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The self-confirming nature of culture means that it is what?

A) self-conscious
B) self-reliant
C) self-reinforcing
D) self-centered

Question 5

The attitude of rejecting beliefs based on faith or tradition alone and demanding rigorous scientific proof for acceptance of ideas is called what?

A) liberalism
B) skeptical positivism
C) cynicism
D) suspicion

Question 6

Inordinate fear of injury or death is known as

A) hypervigilance.
B) the paradox of policing.
C) the victimization paradox.
D) the sixth sense.

Question 7

A group of officers who work the same shift may be called what?

A) a band or a company
B) a troop or a congregation
C) a section or a division
D) a platoon or a squad

Question 8

At the end of a shift, police officers are likely to do all of the following except which?

A) change back into civilian attire
B) finish their paperwork
C) receive the next dayʹs assignments
D) prepare to head home

Question 9

Which of the following is true of preventive patrols for deterring would -be criminals?

A) Police administrators repeatedly ask researchers to study the issue.
B) Police administrators are not swayed by the lack of research support for them.
C) Police administrators have cut back on them in the wake of research evidence.
D) Police administrators have increased them based on research evidence.

Question 10

Suspicion can become a problem when

A) it spills over into a officerʹs private life.
B) it pervades the work experience.
C) it leads to being ʺon guardʺ at work.
D) it comes to define police subculture.

Question 11

Research has found that the police sergeantsʹ attitudes and approaches

A) are critical factors in shaping line officersʹ attitudes.
B) are the lynchpin of police subculture.
C) correlate to the performance of the officers under them.
D) have virtually no direct effects on their subordinatesʹ activities.

Question 12

Which of these is a value that is not always prized by others, but may be necessary for safe and effective police work?

A) patriotism
B) building a better society
C) cynicism
D) bravery

Question 13

The relationship between the police and the media can be a double -edged sword because

A) some journalists understand policing, while others donʹt.
B) some journalists are objective, while others sensationalize cases.
C) some media give space to police matters, while others ignore them.
D) some media coverage can aid investigations, while some can be damaging.

Question 14

Which of the following is not a possible consequence for the investigating officer when a prosecutor elects to develop a case?

A) an increased demand on the officerʹs on -duty and off-duty time
B) a sense of standing alone in efforts to fight crime
C) an examination of the procedures followed in the investigation
D) an analysis of the quality of the report writing

Question 15

Hopes of changing the world and engaging in exciting crime -fighting activities are considered by younger officers and by cynical older officers.

A) necessary; counterintuitive
B) important; unimportant
C) useful; impairing
D) aspirational; delusional

Question 16

Police control is somewhat synonymous with

A) order maintenance.
B) territoriality.
C) coercive action.
D) dominion.

Question 17

The proper order for the three steps police officers use to identify an ʺassholeʺ is

A) affront, remedy, clarification.
B) affront, clarification, remedy.
C) clarification, affront, remedy.
D) remedy, affront, clarification.

Question 18

Crankʹs term ʺinner circleʺ refers to

A) a powerful clique within a police department.
B) the top three levels of the chain of command.
C) the prosecutor, the investigating officer, and the arresting officer.
D) reporters who have experience with and understanding of policing.

Question 19

Typical violent encounters that officers respond to are considered what?

A) a source of a sense of satisfaction in their jobs
B) random acts between total strangers, as portrayed by the media
C) altercations between friends and acquaintances
D) routine, and thus unfulfilling to deal with

Question 20

The rules put in place to protect citizens and police organizations are known as:

A) standard operating procedures
B) bureaucracy
C) a code of ethics
D) institutional values

Question 21

Although secrecy and solidarity are both parts of police subculture, they are not involved in facilitating corruption.

Question 22

Emphasis on courage, intelligence, strength, and self -reliance are part of which police subculture component?

A) the masculine environment
B) the us-versus-them mentality
C) the sense of solidarity
D) the sense of moral superiority

Question 23

Policing is not the most objectively dangerous job.

Question 24

Presence in the community is an example of how a police officer exercises direct control.

Question 25

Police weapons are most often fired on firing ranges.

Question 26

Internal review has been found to have little effect on police subculture.

Question 27

Organizations not only hold institutional values, but also promote them.

Question 28

ʺA body of knowledge that emerges through the shared application of practical skills to concrete problems encountered in daily routines and the normal course of activitiesʺ is one researcherʹs definition of .

Question 29

In the world of police work, common sense refers to recognizing hidden danger in a seemingly safe world.

Question 30

The most important aspect of end-of-shift time is giving officers a period to transition to home life.

Question 31

Many police officers judge lies based on the end result, rather than the type of lie.

Question 32

Many police calls are routine and frustrating.

Question 33

According to sociologist Egon Bittner, the coercive authority of policing is the distinguishing feature that sets law enforcement apart from other professions.

Question 34

Police culture has values and norms that no other subculture shares.

Question 35

Off-duty conversations between fellow officers provide a means for emotional release.

Question 36

The idea of a ʺconfluence of themesʺ to characterize a subculture is credited to John .

Question 37

Police subculture is also sometimes called police .

Question 38

Because police officers have to make split-second decisions in the heat of the moment, inappropriate decisions should be expected some of the time.

Question 39

In the analysis of police interaction with ʺassholes,ʺ it is clear that the term street justice refers to

A) justice administered on the street, rather than in court.
B) justice befitting the place and time of the incident.
C) actions that are outside the justice process and possibly illegal.
D) actions that are toned down in order to fit the circumstances.

Question 40

Some, but not all, of the values that characterize police subculture are shared by all Americans.

Question 41

Match each term that contributes to an understanding of police subculture with its definition.
Column 1: police subculture
Column 2: the shared values and norms and the established patterns of behavior that tend to characterize policing

Question 42

Match each term that contributes to an understanding of police subculture with its definition.
Column 1: culture
Column 2: a set of shared values, norms, and behaviors that form a way of life

Question 43

One kind of police activity in which lies are necessary and desirable is the operation in which an undercover officer sells a willing buyer a quantity of illegal narcotics, known as a operation.

Question 44

Match each term that contributes to an understanding of police subculture with its definition.
Column 1: institutional value
Column 2: a sense of agreement within a particular culture about how to accomplish a valued objective

Question 45

The study of the victims of crime is called .

Question 46

Match each term that contributes to an understanding of police subculture with its definition.
Column 1: value
Column 2: a standard of goodness, desirability, behavior, beauty, or interaction that serves as a guideline for living within a particular culture

Question 47

Match each type of lie to its definition.
Column 1: accepted lie
Column 2: a lie that is necessary in furthering the police mission

Question 48

In police circles, putting on a display of high-mindedness is called .

Question 49

Sources of police subculture outside the police department are the street environment, other criminal justice agencies, and the .

Question 50

Because nearly all traffic stops are involuntary, they are likely to be .

Question 51

The metaphor of police work as profoundly influences police subculture.

Question 52

Police work can result in isolation on the job, as well as isolation from the .

Question 53

Officers who work the midnight to daybreak shift and/or weekends and holidays are limited in their ability to socialize with people outside their professional .

Question 54

The beginning of a shift when officers receive assignments is often called call.

Question 55

Admonitions to drivers who speed may be offered out of genuine concern or delivered with sarcasm growing out of a sense of superiority.

Question 56

Match each term that contributes to an understanding of police subculture with its definition.
Column 1: subculture
Column 2: cultural patterns that distinguish some segment of a societyʹs population

Question 57

Match each term that contributes to an understanding of police subculture with its definition.
Column 1: institution
Column 2: an organizational structure through which values and norms are transmitted over time and from one location to another within a society

Question 58

Match each term that contributes to an understanding of police subculture with its definition.
Column 1: norm
Column 2: a rule or expectation for behavior that characterizes a particular social group

Question 59

A police officer can exercise direct control or control.

Question 60

The tendency among police officers to stick together and associate with each other is referred to as .

Question 61

Analyze how working undercover would affect an officer in terms of various components of police subculture.

Question 62

What other factors besides the five mentioned in the chapter might be sources of police subculture?

Question 63

Identify the characteristics of another subculture that you know well, and compare and contrast these
characteristics with the characteristics of police subculture.

Question 64

What is another metaphor related to police work, and how might it influence the police subculture?

Question 65

Match each type of lie to its definition.
Column 1: tolerated lie
Column 2: a lie that expressly violates the rules and legal requirements

Question 66

What is the relationship between force and coercion?

Question 67

Which values do you think are held in common by many Americans and the police subculture?

Question 68

Match each type of lie to its definition.
Column 1: deviant lie
Column 2: a lie that is used to defend a questionable discretionary decision