Abstract

One of the keys to behaviors and performance of new officers and, therefore, the nature of their relationship with the community is the values they have upon graduation from the police academy and subsequent experience as police officers. ;This study investigated the nature of police values using The Values Scale. Three repeated measures were obtained from a sample of 67 police recruits in a metropolitan police academy. The VS contains 106 items and is scored for 21 intrinsic and extrinsic values. Measurements were taken at entry into the police academy, before training; at the completion of training; and 2 1/2 years after recruits assumed their duties as officers. Differences in gender, race, age, and education were examined. ;The major findings of this research were: in the comparison of normative data on the adult population, n = 1,836 and police recruits, n = 67, recruits, scored higher than adults on values of Advancement, Altruism, Physical Activity, Risk and Economic Security, and lower on Authority, Autonomy, Creativity, Life Style, Prestige, Social Relations, and Working Conditions. Value differences were also found between police recruits on demographical variables. Female recruits scored higher than males on Cultural Identity and black recruits scored higher than white recruits on many of the job realization values. The younger and less educated recruits appear to be concerned with characteristics of young adults, such as Physical Prowess and job performance values . This study also confirmed recruits with four years or more of college were least likely to change; no differences in values were found at the three measurement periods. ;The findings of changes in values, as a result of training, were not surprising since training is the first step in the formal socialization process of new officers. A surprising finding was that Altruism decreased, not only as a result of training, but also as of the officer's 2 1/2 years working experience. The findings also showed that many of the values that increased after academy training, decreased after the 2 1/2 years of work experience. The formal learnings of the police academy tend to disappear while in the field of actual police work.