Police officers represent the most visible manifestation of the body politic; most people tend to view officers as a routine cultural stimulus to be tolerated and generally avoided. This article suggests that patrolmen view themselves as performing society's dirty work and therefore, as being isolated from the mainstream culture and stigmatized. Police work is characterized by drudgery, danger, and dogma; structural strains and contradictions lead to high levels of tension. Police recruits come under heavy pressure to bow to group standards in terms of adherence to general axioms of police work and to the ground rules of the everyday work world. The article describes two distinct occupational perspectives which together form the officer's personal identity. These include the patrolman's unique role in the social world and his outsider position in the community, and the survival dictums that stem from the unique nature of the patrolman's task requirements. 17 notes and 19 references