The Paper: An Ethnographic Visit to a Law Enforcement Agency
The paper is a reaction of an ethnographic visit to a law enforcement agency. It analyzes the key observations made during the visit while demystifying how ethnographic concepts play a role in framing the various dimensions of a police organization include its communication, relationships with the citizens, beliefs as well as reciprocity.
The Visit and Observation
The location in which I conducted my ethnographic observations for this paper was in a law enforcement setting. I went to a police station and conducted my observation for 25 minutes as I sat quietly in the customer service desk while taking some field notes on what was happening in this ethnographic scene. The visit took place during morning hours, shortly after the police station was formally opened at 8:00 am. The focus of the observation was to record the main activities in this setting, the interactions of police officers and the members of the public as well as the maintenance of order in the course of their duty. In addition, my focus was on case management practices and the formal regulations applicable as the police carry out their work and how these have played a role in defining the police culture.
The Significance of Culture
Culture, as studied by anthropologists, refers to diverse sets of human behavior, beliefs, practices and overall ways of life that people in a given setting pass down from one generation to another. It also entails language and communication patterns, customs as well as traditions that are central to people’s lives. It is these cultural aspects that are used in measuring people’s quality of life, their vitality and the well-being of their society. When people become tied to their culture, they develop a mutual sense of belonging, they experience personal connections and growth and their abilities to relate to each other improves significantly.
Anthropological studies have demonstrated that a strong a vibrant culture has the potential of generating direct benefits for the members of the community such as self-esteem, economic advancement, the development of varied skills as well as social capital. Cultural anthropologists venture into studying people’s culture and they conduct research geared towards understanding the role of culture in the human society. Typically, the transmission of cultural practices and beliefs does not always occur purposefully because it is a process that comes naturally as people live in a given community. The community’s history and heritage reflect its culture as they define how community members express their ideas and exercise creativity.
Reciprocity: A Key Ethnographic Concept
One of the main anthropological concepts that came out of my ethnographic observation was reciprocity. Reciprocity involves mutual relationships existing between people and groups in a given setting. People mutually benefit from each other out of their relationships. While police officers are expected to serve the public diligently and urgently, citizens are equally expected to undertake certain obligations for them to be offered with effective services. These citizen obligations include but not limited to adhering to the instructions given, cooperation, as well as the provision of accurate, timely and precise information when reporting. On their part, the police officers handled the citizens with courtesy, they demonstrated genuine concerns in the complainants, they respected the rights of their customers and they acted in a professional manner.
Functionalism: Interconnectedness in a Society
The second ethnographic concept that came out my observations was functionalism. This relates to interconnectedness and interrelations existing between and among individuals and systems in a society. The implication is that culture can be observed as a biological organism. In essence, each of the parts of a culture functions in support of the operation of the entire culture. Every department of the police performed its duties for the good of the whole law enforcement organization. There were constant referrals of clients from one office to another and all the departments interconnected to form a perfectly balanced police station. The study revealed that the police department is generally characterized by order and procedures. There is a reporting system that complainants follow as they approach a police station. According to my findings, these order and procedures are maintained by reciprocal obligations between the police and the citizens. There were internal mechanisms that help in promoting uniformity of the services and enhancing the cohesion of the police duties. My observations revealed the existence of a complex set of organizational rules and procedures designed to facilitate the streamlined internal functioning of the police department.
Language and Communication Patterns
The third ethnographic concept that featured in my observations was language and communications patterns. The police department interacts with citizens perpetually. Effective communication plays a fundamental role in promoting understanding. Typically, the police communicate both orally and in writing. I could see some of the clients walk into the station with documents while others left the station with other documents meant for communication purposes. Police officers also received some distress calls and I could witness officers being dispatched to various locations depending on the calls received. The language that police officers use while communicating with one another is informal and entails the application of some phonetics that a layperson may not understand easily. However, as the police communicate with the citizens, they use a formal language to ensure that miscommunication does not take place.
Structuralism: Understanding Cultural Beliefs
The fourth ethnographic concept that featured prominently in the course of my observation was structuralism. This concept avers that culture can be effectively studied by examining its common stories and myths. It is this examination that helps us in discovering the main themes as well as units of meaning that define a given culture. There are various beliefs associated with the police such as corruption, mistreatment of human rights, formality and rigidity. I could hear some of the individuals visiting the station expressing these beliefs and demonstrating some fears that they would not be attended to in accordance with their expectations. However, most of them were served well and timely hence some of the beliefs about the law enforcement are not necessarily true.
The Role of Reciprocity, Culture, and Communication
Conclusively, based on my observations of the patterns of behavior, characteristics, and interconnectedness of the police organization and the citizens that they serve, I came to recognize how important reciprocity is in the functioning of the police organization. While there are some common negative stories and myths regarding the police, the truth that situations differ and the police only act according to the various circumstances that they come into contact within a given time. The police organization is based on an exchange system founded on mutual service provision between them and the members of the public. The obligations linked with reciprocity play the social role of safeguarding sufficiency and continuity of mutual provision of services. It is the shared obligations between law enforcers and their clients that strengthen social bonds in the course of law enforcement. The specific mechanisms of reciprocity, interconnected and effective communication plays a significant role in maintaining the stability of a given system.
