The “tough guy” and the “human”

Abstract This article analyzes and explores law enforcement officer identity, arguing that officer identity is less stable than previously realized and has the ability to evolve over time. In interviewing 29 law enforcement officers from a rural, small-town sheriff’s department in the Western United States, I found that specific identities emerged from narratives about culpability. Applying critical discourse analysis to culpability narratives (narratives in which officers place blame for their actions on the public or themselves) uncovered a traditional “tough guy” identity or a non-normative “human” identity. When identities flex, indexical links are altered such that they evolve and deepen the pool of potential identities available for officers to draw on. The processes that establish and make officer identities performable and viable can metamorphose over time, bringing about new police discourses and identities. As more idiosyncratic or non-normative identities, like the “human” identity seen here, are performed and circulated, they have the ability to compel change within policing discourses and cultures, potentially paving the way for police reform.