Professional Agency of the Police – Self-Directedness as a Source of Motivation or a Cause of Increased Burden?

Laws and regulations guide all police work, but the authority based on them is different from police officers’ opportunities to influence their own work. Especially in preventive work that emphasizes multidisciplinary cooperation and expertise, there are better – if not essential – opportunities to strengthen professional agency, understood as the ability to act and exert influence at work, than in more reactive areas of policing. In the context of police work, professional agency does not mean experimenting with innovative emotional card methods during a patrol task involving a person threatening others with violence. Rather, it may concern whether an officer conducts preventive work by patrolling areas where young people gather, builds cooperation networks with local stakeholders, or whether time pressures, established working models, or managerial guidelines limit their ability to engage in community-oriented fieldwork. This raises the question of what kinds of descriptions of agency are constructed when police officers talk about workplace learning and the development of their work. I explored this in my master’s thesis Professional agency of police officers engaged in preventive work – A critical discourse analysis of agency speech in the context of police work development.

Many recognize the image of the police organization as a rigid institution where “things have always been done this way, so they will continue to be done this way.” As a gatekeeper of learning and development, such a culture familiar from other sectors is quite effective, but keeping up with changes in society and working life requires updating attitudes within the police organization as well. Fragmentation of working life has become the new norm, and in an era that emphasizes individuality, job satisfaction may gain greater importance than financial benefits. Opportunities for developing work and competence are linked to well-being at work (Kinnari et al. 2022; Ryynänen et al. 2020), so professional agency is not insignificant in terms of employee retention. Professional agency is constructed in a sociocultural environment, meaning that opportunities to influence police work must be examined in relation to organizational norms, historically formed practices, and interaction and social relations within the organization. Preventive policing adds further complexity, as its definition in Finland remains vague and its implementation varies across the country.

In my thesis, I examined how police officers engaged in preventive work talk about their agency in the context of workplace learning and development. Officers described diverse opportunities to influence their work and utilize prior experience. Broad competence appeared in their talk both as an inspiring opportunity and a burdensome demand. Employee-centeredness, self-directedness, and autonomy were emphasized, but the downside included strain from continuous learning demands without sufficient support, time, or clear leadership. Interviews also highlighted that the specific features of preventive work are not always understood within the organization. The data revealed three discourses of agency, each representing a different manifestation of professional agency:

In the discourse of enabled learning, the police officer is an active professional learner. The organization provides training, and competence development is seen as a meaningful part of work. Here, self-directedness and continuous learning support agency.

In the discourse of supported development, the police officer is an autonomous developing expert. Work development is relatively free, especially when supervisors provide support or are physically distant, resulting in limited supervision. Expertise and autonomy are key factors supporting agency in this discourse.

In the discourse of prescribed influence, the police officer is an undervalued craftsman of their own expertise, constantly having to justify the importance of their work to others in the organization. Self-directedness and continuous learning turn into a burden, as diverse competence requirements become overwhelming and self-directedness shifts from freedom to responsibility.

All of these are united by the discourse of apparent agency, in which agency is constructed as a balancing act between perceived opportunities and practical constraints. Officers may be given freedom to develop their work, but in practice, factors such as resource pressures and the unclear definition of preventive work limit agency and impose tasks beyond their core duties.

A key finding is that the same sociocultural structures of the work environment can both enable and constrain agency. Self-directedness can enhance motivation and learning at its best, but without sufficient support, it becomes a burden. Similarly, diverse competence requirements can both increase meaningfulness and cause strain. Even extensive training offerings do not guarantee learning or make workplace learning meaningful. Strengthening agency is not only an individual responsibility; it requires structural support for learning and development. This calls for clearer definitions of preventive policing, protected time for learning, and continued positive development in recognizing and utilizing personnel competence.

– Meiju Welling, Project Researcher, EEPO Project