UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIALIZATION PROCESS OF POLICE OFFICERS AND JOB SATISFACTION

Abstract

Understanding police socialization is significant not only for understanding the officers themselves but for understanding the transformation of police in his/her career. There are many studies regarding the socialization process of officers and its outcomes. However, these studies focus more on large, urban police departments and ignore the socialization process of officers in small police departments, and the influence of community policing philosophy and increasing diversity of police officers on the socialization and its outcomes. A small type police organization in the USA is analyzed in this study. Nine interviews were conducted with police officers in this inductive study. The results of this study show that the work environment (i.e., crime rates, crime diversity, neighborhood, and target population) and policing approaches such as community policing influence the socialization process of the police. In addition, police officersattach more importance to problem solving, partnership, and public relations in this new environment which, in turn, positively affect the job satisfaction of the police officers. These results are also meaningful for the Turkish National Police which has departments with different crime rates and size and is increasingly adapting community policing or similar policing approaches

Keywords

• Socialization
• Community Policing
• Service Style Policing
• Police Culture
• Job Satisfaction

POLĐSĐN SOSYALLEŞME SÜRECĐ VE ĐŞ MEMNUNĐYETĐ

Abstract

Polislerin sosyalleşme sürecini anlamak, polisi ve polisin mesleki yaşamındaki dönüşümünü anlamamızın temel koşuludur. Polisin sosyalleşme süreci ve bunun sonuçları üzerine yapılan çok sayıda yurtdışı kaynaklı araştırma vardır. Ancak, yapılan bu çalışmalar genellikle büyük ve suç yoğun polis birimlerini dikkate almıştır. Küçük ölçekli polis birimlerinde çalışan polislerin yaşadığı sosyalleşme süreci, son dönemde uygulamaya konulan toplum destekli polislik uygulamaları ve polisin değişen demografik özelliklerinin bu sosyalleşme sürecine etkisi üzerinde fazla durulmamıştır. Bu çalışma ile ABD’de bulunan küçük ölçekli bir polis teşkilatı analiz edilmiştir. Tümevarım yaklaşımı içinde farklı rütbe ve birimlerde çalışan polislerle mülakat yapılmıştır. Bu çalışmada, polis biriminin çalıştığı çevrenin (suç yoğunluğu, suç türü, hedef kitle) ve toplum destekli polislik gibi yaklaşımların polisin sosyalleşme sürecini etkilediği anlaşılmıştır. Ayrıca, geleneksel suçla mücadele taktiklerinin yanı sıra problem çözme, vatandaşla işbirliği yapma gibi yaklaşımların daha fazla önemsendiği, bu değişimin de polisin iş memnuniyetine olumlu etkisi bulunduğu ortaya konmuştur. Bu sonuçlar, toplum destekli polislik gibi polislik yaklaşımlarının artan oranda uygulandığı, suç yoğunluğu ve kurumsal büyüklük olarak değişen birimleri içinde barındıran Türk Polis Teşkilatı’nda yaşanan sosyalleşme sürecini anlamamıza da katkı sağlayacak niteliktedir.

Keywords

• Sosyalleşme
• Toplum Destekli Polislik
• Hizmet Odaklı Polislik
• Polis Kültürü
• Đş Tatmini

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