Nurturing isolation in the South African police service A comparison of male and female recruits

Purpose - The article aims to report on an examination of South African Police Service (SAPS) recruits for indicators evincing the presence of the police culture theme of isolation. The research also seeks to determine if the presence of isolation as characteristic of SAPS recruits is gender neutral as well as whether indicators of social isolation change over the period of basic recruit training as well as during the first period of encounter, field training. Design/methodology/approach - Using a survey format, the research employs a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test repeated measures research (longitudinal) design: a pre-test at the beginning of SAPS recruit basic training; post-test at the end of the SAPS basic training; and a second post-test upon completion field training. Findings - Although there is significant variance among the police recruits, overall there are indicators of police isolation already present among the recruits upon arrival at the police training colleges. These indicators became stronger during the period of basic training but appeared to weaken during field training. However, upon closer observation this change was true only for female recruits. Indicators of isolation were also stronger among female recruits at all three times despite the decrease following field training. Practical implications - The findings suggest that the basic training be evaluated for its differential, and somewhat negative, impact on female recruits. That attitudes evincing isolation from the public are present among police recruits also raises a serious question regarding community policing as the preferred mode of police service delivery. Originality/value - This paper reports on a preliminary investigation of the police culture theme of isolation among South African Police Service recruits entering basic police training in January of 2005 and changes that may have occurred in these attitudes over the period of the six-month basic training and the subsequent six-month field training experience.