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Interviewing my companion officer, John Davis, provided a rich background from which to analyze his actions and discretionary decision-making patterns (the foreground). For officer Davis, 1987 marked his seventh year on the Glendale police force. In this span of time, he had worked as an observer in the G. P. D. helicopter, at the K-9 desk, in the records department, in a unit equivalent to LAPD's Crash unit, as an FTO, and as a patrolman. Prior to this, 1978?1979, he had served as a reserve officer. The more prototypical variable surfaces in his 1975?1976 experience as a weapons specialist in the Marine's military police. This information fit in well with the stereotypical cop image, conservative, authoritarian, aggressive, out to get red, pinko, commie faggots. Adding further to the composite that revealed this officer's assimilation into the force was his new assignment. In a week's time, he was to join the narcotics bureau as an undercover investigator. .
Additional biographical data enriched my patrolman portrait. It seems that Davis felt his sense of prejudice had increased since he joined the force. Various racial and ethnic references revealed this to me: (speaking to Gary, from the K-9 Unit), "Hey, dude, if you're going down to south-central L.A. [a predominantly black area], you should take an extra gun"; (verbal exchange with a fellow officer stopped at a traffic signal), "Hey, Bob, let's go to La Palma, to eat some tortillas and drink some beer" (spoken with a heavy Spanish accent). Davis revealed a more interesting bit of data concerning personal changes resulting from police duty. He mentioned that he now enjoyed his solitude, liked to be alone more; continually being asked for advice and solving other people's problems had made him tired of being around others. He confessed having less patience with "phony" individuals. These themes bring to mind Skolnick's "working personality" (1967).
