1. RESEARCH NOTE: COPS AND 'STOOL PIGEONS'--PROFESSIONAL STRIVING AND DISCRETIONARY JUSTICE IN EUROPEAN POLICE WORK.
- Author
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Walsh, James Leo
- Subjects
DISCRETION ,JUSTICE ,POLICE ,INFORMERS ,INTERVIEWING ,SOCIOLOGISTS - Abstract
The interplay between professionals and clients has been examined in a number of settings and the impact of laymen on professional behavior is well-known to the sociologists. In this research report these insights are applied to police-citizen interaction in an effort to explain the dynamics of discretionary decisions by police officers and the role such discretion plays in their quest to attain higher professional stature. Specific attention will be paid to variations in the willingness of policemen to develop and utilize informers or "stool pigeons." This article examines information secured in tape-recorded personal interviews conducted during the winter of 1971 by the author in two European police departments. Discretionary decisions to arrest or not, or to press serious or minor charges, become one part of the negotiation between policemen and citizens, making it possible for the police to carve out a work style balancing professional rules and codes while also making sufficient concessions to client controls necessary to operate in the streets.
- Published
- 1972
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