The myth(?) of the police sub‐culture

This study examines empirically the extent to which there is evidence of an endemic sub‐culture of policing among a sample of sheriffs’ deputies. While failing to observe widespread adherence to the sub‐cultural norms and values suggested in the literature, such adherence is observed among a subset of our sample. Advanced statistical techniques (i.e. cluster analysis and discriminant function analysis) are then used to create, replicate, and validate a numerical taxonomy of policing. The taxonomy reveals three types of law enforcement orientations: “Sub‐Cultural Adherents,” “COP Cops,” who represent a nouveau sub‐culture strongly committed to public service, and “Normals,” who, on average, are quite average and are not especially committed to either sub‐cultural form.