Can ethics survive the shock of the job? Quebec's police recruits confront reality

Previous research has shown how skills acquired in different settings are gradually transformed into work strategies (McNamara 1967 McNamara, J.H. 1967. Complaints aganist police: the politics of reform, Indianapolis: Wiley. [Google Scholar], Van Maanen 1973 Van Maanen, J. 1973. Observations on the making of policemen. Human Organisation, 32(4): 407–418. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1974 Van Maanen, J. 1974. “Working the street: a developmental view of police behaviour”. In The potential for reform of criminal justice, Edited by: Jacob, H. 83–130. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. [Google Scholar], 1977 Van Maanen, J. 1977. “Experimenting organization: notes on the meaning of careers and socialization”. In Organizational careers: some new perspectives, Edited by: Van Maanen, J. 15–18. New York: Wiley. [Google Scholar], Fielding 1988 Fielding, N.G. 1988. Joining forces: police training, socialization, and occupational competence, New York, NY: Routledge. [Google Scholar], Chan 2003 Chan, J. 2003. Fair cop: learning the art of policing, University of Toronto Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Other research has looked at the complex question of ethics and policing (Kappeler et al. 1998 Kappeler, V.E., Sluder, R.D. and Alpert, G.P. 1998. Forces of deviance: understanding the dark side of policing, Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press. [Google Scholar], Klokars et al. 2004 Klokars , C.B. , Ivkovic , S.K. , and Haberfeld , M.R. 2004 . The contours of police integrity . Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage . [Google Scholar]). However, very few attempts have been made to understand how these two aspects, professional skills and ethical standpoints, gradually merge. We look at one particular aspect in the professional socialisation processes of young police officers – how new police officers deal with the ethical dilemmas they encounter. This paper presents the results obtained from a follow-up cohort study of 316 police recruits after their third year as newly sworn officers throughout Quebec's police forces.