Police Morale
Police Morale
The University of Tennessee at Martin
Ripley Campus
Police Morale Morale, such a simple word, six letters in a combination to make up a word that by its very definition means confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline. This word, morale, when coupled with a human being, can be a very powerful word. Morale is a great contributor to a healthy or unhealthy workplace. Morale, in the sense of police, can make or break a department. A high morale, and the department is firing on all cylinders, everything is running like clockwork. A low morale, and there is a good possibility someone gets injured or killed. Morale can make the difference between life and death because when police officers no longer care about their job duties, who will? According to Cruickshank (2012), morale can be affected by many things, organizational stress, operational stress, favoritism, poor communication, unfair and inconsistent discipline, and supervisory politics.
According to the research of Gocke (1945):
Good morale is vital to police work. A police officer needs good morale in order to accomplish his objectives. His daily work demands that he deal with troublesome problems; he has many setbacks and discouragements. Good morale stimulates persistence, energy, and initiative. It also encourages patience and will-power. It enables a man to draw upon his latent reserves in time of need. Human beings have a tendency not to exert themselves to the limit; their natural "reservoirs of power" are tapped only by the proper sort of mental stimulation. Effectiveness means power of accomplishment. With a hundred men, a depreciation of morale by twenty-five percent is equivalent to a loss of a quarter of the command. In fact, it is worse, for while seventy-five men with perfect morale will accomplish the work of a hundred men whose morale is only three-quarters perfect, in the latter case there are twenty-five drones who make necessary a larger overhead of supervision, time, money,
The University of Tennessee at Martin
Ripley Campus
Police Morale Morale, such a simple word, six letters in a combination to make up a word that by its very definition means confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline. This word, morale, when coupled with a human being, can be a very powerful word. Morale is a great contributor to a healthy or unhealthy workplace. Morale, in the sense of police, can make or break a department. A high morale, and the department is firing on all cylinders, everything is running like clockwork. A low morale, and there is a good possibility someone gets injured or killed. Morale can make the difference between life and death because when police officers no longer care about their job duties, who will? According to Cruickshank (2012), morale can be affected by many things, organizational stress, operational stress, favoritism, poor communication, unfair and inconsistent discipline, and supervisory politics.
According to the research of Gocke (1945):
Good morale is vital to police work. A police officer needs good morale in order to accomplish his objectives. His daily work demands that he deal with troublesome problems; he has many setbacks and discouragements. Good morale stimulates persistence, energy, and initiative. It also encourages patience and will-power. It enables a man to draw upon his latent reserves in time of need. Human beings have a tendency not to exert themselves to the limit; their natural "reservoirs of power" are tapped only by the proper sort of mental stimulation. Effectiveness means power of accomplishment. With a hundred men, a depreciation of morale by twenty-five percent is equivalent to a loss of a quarter of the command. In fact, it is worse, for while seventy-five men with perfect morale will accomplish the work of a hundred men whose morale is only three-quarters perfect, in the latter case there are twenty-five drones who make necessary a larger overhead of supervision, time, money,
References: Albrecht, S. L., & Green, M. (1977). ATTITUDES TOWARD THE POLICE AND THE LARGER ATTITUDE COMPLEX. Criminology, 15(1), 67-86. Cruickshank, D. "Recognizing the True Cost of Low Morale," The Police Chief 79 (September 2012): 26–30. Retrieved from http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction =display_arch&article_id=2756&issue_id=92012 Dobby, J., Anscombe, J., & Tuffin, R. (2004). Police Leadership: expectations and impact. Home Office Journal. Retreived from http://www.ioe.stir.ac.uk/documents/MTEP16Reader-Dobby.pdf Gocke, B. W. (1945). MORALE IN A POLICE DEPARTMENT. Journal Of Criminal Law & Criminology (08852731), 36(3), 215-219. Hunter, G. (2013). Arrests fall as violent crime rises in Detroit. The Detroit News. Retrieved from http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130211/METRO01/302110340/Arrests-fall-violent-crime-rises-Detroit?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE