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Abstract
HUNTER JACKSON SIMMONS. Gendered Differences in Professionalism and Good Policing in Law Enforcement (Under the direction of DR. Janne Gaub)For over 100 years, scholars and practitioners of law enforcement have been unable to reach a consensus on defining police professionalism and good policing. During this time, much has changed, including women’s introduction into policing; and with their entrance, they have brought about a separate perspective with which to examine these two topics. Unfortunately, research on professional and good policing is limited, as is research on women in policing generally. This study addressed these deficiencies by assessing gendered differences in working definitions of police professionalism and good policing. This study used the definitions of professionalism and good policing provided by Muir (1977) to examine his four typologies of law enforcement officers using interviews with sworn police officers in the United States (N=21), including both men (n=10) and women (n=11). Transcripts of these interviews were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis and reflexive coding. The results from this analysis found that, while Muir’s four categories appear to have remained mostly stable in definition, how they are perceived by this sample of officers has changed. Additionally, participants were less clear on how to distinguish between professional and good policing, whereas Muir (1977) found professional policing (perspective) and good policing (passion) to be separate concepts. Additionally, while finding both important, participants, regardless of gender, seemed to put a greater emphasis on the professional/perspective traits, over those of good policing/passion, with female participants holding these in even higher regard than males. However, more research is necessary to fully understand how professional and good policing are defined by officers today. Significance of these findings, including implications, limitations, and direction for future research are also discussed.