Officer Robert Barton Paper

Officer Barton joined a big city police department six years ago. He ;was a high school graduate from a middle-class family in a small ;town. His parents spoke French, English, and Spanish, and he was ;fluent in all three languages. His first six months in the department ;(after the academy) was an eye-opener and somewhat of a ;cultural shock. At first he was lost, and he had some difficulty in ;adjusting to the lifestyles of a big city. It soon became apparent ;that the police had bonds of loyalty and secrecy and that there ;was a general feeling of “us against them.” He found that he was ;part of a subculture that demanded a high level of esprit de ;corps and solidarity. It was soon apparent that the officers he ;worked with viewed themselves as the “thin blue line.” His fellow ;officers that were in his academy class came from varying ;backgrounds, and most of them had lived in metropolitan areas all ;of their lives. They shared diverse values, attitudes, and ;perspectives. Slowly but surely the officers felt the need to belong ;and assimilated the new subculture, and in relatively short ;time, they became comfortable interacting with one another. They ;became a source of mutual support to each other. ;Robert Barton, like most of his peers, started out slowly ;and was somewhat overawed by the total process, but in time he ;began to think, act, and feel like a cop. He wanted to be a good ;cop. His goals were to preserve the peace and to protect people ;and society from criminals. Barton placed a relatively high value ;on individual rights and due process of law. He really wanted to ;protect and serve, but with the reality of the street and the social ;status that he sought, within the group, he quickly accepted the ;norms and values of his peers and of his field training officers ;(FTO). Barton was a good candidate for the socialization process ;and quickly learned the importance of going along with the flow. ;The taboos were readily apparent such as failure to back up an ;officer who is in danger and above all exhibit bravery in the face ;of danger or suffer the consequences and be ostracized by the ;group. Barton also learned that his immediate sergeant would be ;the most important in his life while working. This proved to be ;especially true during the two-year probationary period. ;After three years in the patrol division, Officer Barton was ;reassigned. He was placed in a Joint Gang Task Force, which consisted ;of 26 investigators and 1 supervisor from 6 jurisdictions ;who formed a tightly knit work group. This was a group that was ;just organized, and he wanted to become a full-fledged member ;of the group. ;It consisted of a homogeneous and cohesive group of ;bilingual people who identified with each other and shared a unique ;set of values, attitudes, and beliefs related to their job. Based on continual ;face-to face interaction among themselves and with gang ;members, they soon became a viable component in the effort to ;control gang activities. It was immediately apparent that the task ;force rewarded loyalty, secrecy, and conformity to group-shared ;expectations. Their highest priority was to suppress gang activity to ;reduce the occurrence of gang-related crimes. Some of the activities ;the task force performed skirted the law, and it was not uncommon ;that they conducted illegal searches and stopped many individuals ;who were not known to have a gang affiliation. In other ;instances, arrests were made without probable cause, and many ;suspected gang members were booked and then released. In other ;words, get them off of the street. Although Bob Barton tried to ;remain neutral and adhere to his set of personal values, he needed ;recognition, support, and approval from the group. Subconsciously, ;he wanted to be a “stand-up guy,” and he felt compelled to sacrifice ;his standards to achieve acceptance and status from the work ;group. Membership in the group became an end in itself. Abstract ;notions of right and wrong became irrelevant to him. Integrity consisted ;of loyalty to and protection of the group. The rationalization ;was that no one really got hurt, and there was a real need to preserve ;peace in the communities. ;

Write 700 words in APA format answering the below questions. Do not use in-text citations to try and fill word count. Reference must be from the USA not from other countries.

Using concepts related to groups and group dynamics, explain ;what happened in this situation. When does group cohesiveness ;cease to be positive and become pathological? Are subcultures in ;police work inevitable? Explain. What steps might you take, as a ;police administrator, to prevent this from occurring?