Norwegian police students' perception of what police work is and their comprehension of what characterizes good police work

The proposed paper examines the extent to which, and in what ways, police students' social background influences their perception of what police work is and their comprehension of what characterizes good police work. The analysis will be based on in-depth interviews with students. A number of studies of police occupational culture in modern, capitalist-democratic societies describe police culture as having a primary focus on "real police work", where traditional Machismo, predilection for action and use of physical force dominate both the “canteen culture” and actual operative interventions on the streets. In this culture, clear bulkheads are drawn between "them" and "us" - in short, police culture is a culture where prejudices grow (and thrive) and where stereotypes are reinforced and cemented. To some extent, this culture has been explained on the basis of who policemen actually are, and several studies have made the point that there is a correlation between this culture's "core characteristics" and the persons who are recruited for this particular profession: white working-class men, who have spent only a few months in police training. In this perspective, Norway may represent a contrasting case:

Norwegian police education provides the academic degree of bachelor, and police students are recruited primarily among young people with a middle-class background. The vast majority of police students have parents with higher education degrees, grade requirements for admission to the programs are relatively high and about 40 percent of the students are women. Possible consequences of this composition of the student population will be examined.