Warriors and Guardians: Occupational Ideologies and the Impact of Academy Training on Police Recruits’ Role Orientations

Research shows variation in police officers’ views of the police role; some are mainly crime control oriented, while others hold a broader role extending to order maintenance and service. Though the origins and nature of role orientations are not well understood, training and socialization are presumed to play key roles. Some conjecture holds that officers subscribe to a “warrior” mindset, and training fosters this orientation. A shift to a “guardian” mentality, prizing community partnership, is prescribed. We analyze two waves of panel survey data from four classes of New York State Police recruits to examine the content and structure of recruits’ role orientations and the direction and degree of change during basic training. We find that recruits enter training as both warriors and guardians, these “mindsets” are not incompatible with one another, and that academy training amplifies and strengthens attitudinal coherence for both sets of outlooks.