The Police’s official policy states that one central aspect of the organization is that employees can discuss organizational working tasks and working situations internally (National Police Board, 2011). However, recent research and report on a widespread fear of various retaliations among employees when expressing oneself within the police (Holgersson, forthcoming; Knutsson, 2015; Wieslander, 2016; forthcoming). This ongoing research describes how police employees are learned to silence in interaction with peers and supervisors and through developing knowledge of not just professional service as an officer but also about institutional working conditions. In contrast to formal and official norms and values within the police an informal culture with norms of assimilation, “staying low” and to “shut up” is learned through everyday talk and storytelling among the employees. Through empirical examples from data consisting of field studies and 33 interviews with police officers this paper presents how employees learn and reproduce informal values that condition the conversational and working climate within the organization. Applying Jacksons’ (1968) theory of ‘hidden curriculum’ and ‘curriculum silentium’ (Lien Holte, 2009) to policy in practice the analysis reveals tensions and a discrepancy between the official policy and the hidden policy of the conversational climate within the police. The results are also briefly discussed in relation to the police as a learning organization.

The paper contributes to the field of adult education and learning by combining professional ethics, learning in professions and how formal and informal knowledge is reproduced within an institution. Moreover, it highlights the significance of hierarchical structures in relation to professional learning.