Abstract

This paper deals with an international comparison of the police patrollers’ socialisation in France and in England. We will first state some common features of the police socialisation process between France and England, and we will then highlight significant differences based on the findings of an intensive qualitative fieldwork. The French police recruit is notably socialised through a perception of a dangerous job, the crime fighting dogma, and he learns to deal with an unfriendly environment and a mistrust relationship with people. Whereas his English counterpart’s socialisation process emphasizes empathy for victims, communication as a core source and force as the very last resource. Taking from this insightful knowledge of police socialisation (and thus of police culture in England and in France), we finally discuss the English and French police stands towards the community policing model, especially showing how problematic this model is when relating to French police culture.