RPI Psych course covering law enforecement personnel

I was looking for some simple stats and came across this gem:

The Police Personality

What type of people become police officers ?

Joel Lefkowitz has identified two personality trait clusters which commonly appear in police officers.

Cluster 1 : isolation & secrecy, defensiveness and suspiciousness, and cynicism.

Suspiciousness and Cynicism increase with experience on the job.

Police feel misunderstood by the "civilians"

Lefkowitz refers to their situation as "socio-occupational isolation".

Cluster 2 : authoritarianism, status concerns, and violence.

Authoritarianism : identification w/ and submissiveness to authority, intolerance of minorities, rejection of anything abnormal, high pressure for conformity.

So we get either paranoid and cynical or authoritarian and violent.

Psychological Motivations for becoming a police officer

The psychological need for security : Many police officers come from middle class backgounds and jobs in law enforcement are seen as jobs which you can keep as long as your able to work.

The desire to provide services for others. Police officers are community servants who help others on a daily basis.

So it's either for steady employment or for the chance to impose your will on others.

Thought that was pretty funny. RPI Page

We're surrounded by insecure authoritarians who just want job security and control.