When we talk about "toxic culture" in law enforcement, we tend to picture the dramatic scenes: the screaming lieutenant, the public scandal, or the lawsuit that makes the news.
But if you are waiting for a scandal to tell you your culture is broken, you have already lost.
There is clearly a retention crisis with officers resigning before pension age leading us to believe officers rarely leave because of the "big" explosive moments.1 They leave because of the "quiet" toxicity. They leave because of the daily, grinding friction of an agency that has lost its way.
Here are 5 "red flags" that your agency is suffering from a toxic internal culture, even if everything looks calm on the surface.
But if you are waiting for a scandal to tell you your culture is broken, you have already lost.
There is clearly a retention crisis with officers resigning before pension age leading us to believe officers rarely leave because of the "big" explosive moments.1 They leave because of the "quiet" toxicity. They leave because of the daily, grinding friction of an agency that has lost its way.
Here are 5 "red flags" that your agency is suffering from a toxic internal culture, even if everything looks calm on the surface.
1. The Silence of the Briefing Room
The Sign: You (the Sergeant or Lieutenant) finish giving out information and ask, "Any questions or inputs?"
The Result: Dead silence. Everyone stares at the table in front of them or their phones.
Why It's Toxic: In a healthy, high-trust culture, officers always have questions or opinions. They want to know the "why," they want to debate tactics, or they want to clarify the mission.
The Research: Organizations silence is a primary indicator of "Psychological Unsafety." When officers stop speaking up, it means they have calculated that the risk of speaking is higher than the reward. They don't fear being wrong; they fear being targeted. If your briefings are quiet, your people aren't disciplined—they are disengaged.
The Result: Dead silence. Everyone stares at the table in front of them or their phones.
Why It's Toxic: In a healthy, high-trust culture, officers always have questions or opinions. They want to know the "why," they want to debate tactics, or they want to clarify the mission.
The Research: Organizations silence is a primary indicator of "Psychological Unsafety." When officers stop speaking up, it means they have calculated that the risk of speaking is higher than the reward. They don't fear being wrong; they fear being targeted. If your briefings are quiet, your people aren't disciplined—they are disengaged.
2. The Meeting After the Meeting
The Sign: The official roll call ends, the supervisor leaves the room, and immediately the squad gathers in the parking lot or a group chat to discuss what really just happened.
The Result: The "Parking Lot Briefing" becomes the source of truth, not the official one.
Why It's Toxic: This indicates a complete fracture between the "Manifest Culture" (what you say you do) and the "Latent Culture" (what actually happens).2
The Research: Sociologists call this "Subversive Cohesion." The squad is bonding against the leadership rather than with it. When the real leadership happens in the parking lot without the stripes present, you have lost control of the narrative and the standards.3
3. Weaponized Policy (The "Gotcha" Game)
The Sign: Policies are enforced based on who violated them, not what was violated.
The Result: Officers feel like they are walking through a minefield, not a career.
Why It's Toxic: In toxic agencies, the policy manual isn't guide for best practices; it's a hunting license for supervisors to target people they don't like.
The Research: This leads to "Malicious Compliance." Officers will do exactly what they are told, to the letter, even if they know it will fail, just so they can't be blamed. Innovation dies because trying something new (and failing) is punished more severely than doing nothing at all.
4. The "High-Performer" Exodus
The Sign: You aren't just losing officers; you are losing your best officers. The Field Training Officers (FTOs), the proactive interdiction guys, and the natural leaders are lateraling to other agencies or leaving the profession entirely.
The Result: You are left with a layer of "retired-on-duty" personnel who stay because it's comfortable, not because they are committed.
Why It's Toxic: High performers have the highest sensitivity to incompetence. They want to work for a winning team.
The Research: High performers inevitably clash with insecure leaders. If your "rock stars" are leaving, they aren't "chasing better pay"—they are fleeing a cap on their potential.
5. Internal Tribalism (Admin vs. Patrol)
The Sign: The phrase "The Palace" or "The Ivory Tower" is used daily to describe Headquarters or administration.
The Result: Patrol treats Admin as an adversary to be outsmarted, rather than support staff to be utilized.
Why It's Toxic: Every department has some friction between the street and the office. But in toxic cultures, this becomes "Organizational Cynicism." 4
The Research: Officers begin to view the department's success and their own success as mutually exclusive. They believe that for Admin to win, Patrol must lose (e.g., "They only wrote that policy to cover their own liability, not to keep me safe"). When internal trust collapses, external performance (how they treat the public) follows.
References
1. Police Executive Research Forum (2023). The Police Crisis: A Year Later. Washington, DC.
2. Becker, H.S., & Greer, B. (1960). "Latent Culture: A Note on the Theory of Latent Social Roles." Administrative Science Quarterly
3. Edmonson, A. C. (2018). The Fearless Organization. Wiley. Policing: An International Journal, "The blue code of silence: The role of organizational accidents."
4. Niederhoffer, A. (1967). Behind the Shield: The Police in Urban Society
2. Becker, H.S., & Greer, B. (1960). "Latent Culture: A Note on the Theory of Latent Social Roles." Administrative Science Quarterly
3. Edmonson, A. C. (2018). The Fearless Organization. Wiley. Policing: An International Journal, "The blue code of silence: The role of organizational accidents."
4. Niederhoffer, A. (1967). Behind the Shield: The Police in Urban Society