Why Do Street Level Bureaucrats Risk Themselves for Others? The Case of Israeli Policemen

It is unignorably evident that all over the globe, street-level bureaucrats go beyond their formal duties in order to help their clients. As scholars already suggest, in many cases, street-level bureaucrats dirty their hands for society, and are sometimes even willing to risk their jobs to provide assistance to citizens they believe worthy. Police officers are one of the most popular examples of street level bureaucrats, not only because they risk various resources for their clients, but also since they put their lives at danger in order to serve and protect society. Indeed, the literature has already revealed the motivations to perform as a civil servant, but there is a need for further research for why, given their discretion and freedom of choice, would police officers as street-level bureaucrats endanger their lives? Further, within a group of police officers, why would some risk their lives more than others? We suggest three factors that influence police officers to risk their lives for others. We use the context of street level bureaucrats in life risking positions in order to demonstrate our claim that individual characteristics, organizational conditions, and environmental surroundings all influence the street level bureaucrats’ decision to risk their lives. Our study examines this question in the case for Israeli police officers, detectives and patrol officers. The chosen group consists of police officers who risk their lives on a daily basis. Our field research is based on multiple qualitative methods; First, an initial exploratory research is conducted in order to form a valid base for questions for the following focus groups and interviews. Second, two focus groups of 15 participants each, and 20 in-depth, face-to-face interviews are conducted during 2017–2018.