This study examines empirically the extent to which there is evidence of an endemic sub-culture of policing among a sample of sheriffs' deputies. While failing to observe widespread adherence to the sub-cultural norms and values suggested in the literature, such adherence is observed among a subset of our sample. Advanced statistical techniques (i.e. cluster analysis and discriminant function analysis) are then used to create, replicate, and validate a numerical taxonomy of policing. The

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... y reveals three types of law enforcement orientations:"Sub-Cultural Adherents,""COP Cops," who represent a nouveau sub-culture strongly committed to public service, and"Normals," who, on average, are quite average and are not especially committed to either sub-cultural form. Both those working in the sociology of work and occupations and those in industrial/occupational psychology acknowledge that employees tend to adopt job-specific sub-cultural responses (i.e. shared beliefs, attitudes, values, and norms) to the contingencies they experience in their organizational and occupational environments (DiMaggio and Powell, 1991; Manning, 1995; Ouchi and Wilkins, 1985; Ritti, 1994; Sackmann, 1991; Schein, 1985) . Criminologists working within these perspectives have consistently noted the unique subcultural responses of criminal justice practitioners, especially law enforcement and correctional officers, given the particular characteristics of these fields