Occupational culture in policing reviewed: A comparison of values in the public and private police

Abstract

Recent years have seen an increasing privatization of the security sector, leading to an intermingling of private and public policing and a possible "value-shift" for the overall security policy. Systematic comparative research between police and private security values is, however, still lacking. This article intends to help filling this void by giving an overview of literature on values and occupational culture in both sectors. We conclude that culture is mostly approached in a one-sided, stereotypical, and negative way. Our recommendation is to integrate the occupational culture research in the broader academic tradition that focuses on organizational culture and climate.