Individual value preferences among American police officers

Abstract

This paper examines the value orientation of American police officers in a major municipal police department. Relying primarily on survey data, the aim of this paper is to utilize Milton Rokeach’s theory of human values to investigate the following three issues: What are the value orientations of police officers today? Have such value orientations among police officers changed over time? Is there a consensus on values among officers? The primary findings of this paper strongly suggest that value orientations among American police officers have remained relatively stable over recent decades. Moreover, there is a high degree of consensus on value priorities among police officers across years of service, level of education and gender.