Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Criminology and Criminal Justice

Date of Defense

4-15-2025

Graduate Advisor

Dr. Lee Ann Slocum

Committee

Dr. Adam Boessen

Dr. Dave Klinger

Dr. Joe Schafer

Abstract

American police have experienced an expansion of duties over the last century, and their function has become increasingly diverse. As a result, researchers have developed role orientation typologies to understand how officers view themselves, their attitudes toward their work, and their responsibilities. One such typology is the warrior/guardian framework, where warrior-oriented officers see themselves as crime-fighting soldiers in conflict with criminals, while guardian-oriented officers view themselves as protectors of the community and providers of broader public services. Despite its popularity, there is limited empirical evidence supporting this framework. Further, little research examines how police recruits differentially view their role as most studies focus on fully-fledged officers. Recruits undergo a transformative process of socialization as they learn the norms and values of the police, but differences between individuals in their beliefs on the police role and how beliefs affect their academy experience are not well developed. Drawing on interviews with 26 police recruits from two academies in a Midwestern metropolitan area, this dissertation explores recruit beliefs on policing using the warrior/guardian framework.

First, I classify recruits as warrior- or guardian-oriented drawing on the limited literature and then extend this line of research by identifying novel dimensions that may help categorize recruits within the framework. Second, I examine how recruits’ orientations align with or contradict academy portrayals of policing and explore the implications of this disconnect. Lastly, I analyze how some guardian-oriented recruits perceive academy and policing practices as contributing to staffing challenges.

The findings suggest that recruits can broadly be classified as warrior- or guardian-oriented, although hybridization exists, with recruits sometimes holding views associated with the opposite orientation. I find that recruits’ perspectives on several unexplored topics—such as community support, “alpha” personalities, motivation to help others, and police misconduct—align fairly consistently with the warrior/guardian framework. Additionally, guardian-oriented recruits exhibited signs of cognitive dissonance due to discrepancies between their views and academy portrayals of policing, while warrior-oriented recruits generally aligned with academy presentations of the profession. Finally, findings suggest that certain recruitment and academy practices may “weed out” some guardian-oriented recruits, potentially contributing to police staffing concerns.

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