With an increase in gender equality policies and gender balance targets within traditionally male professions, organisations such as the police service are experiencing changing demographics. How these shifts influence the construction of professional identity is unclear. Drawing on focus group data, this study aimed to explore identity construction of police officers across gender using a thematic analysis method. Two themes related to identity construction were found to be common to both male and female police officers: ‘Working within a blue family’ and ‘Being a copper is a job for life’. However, the way in which these themes were articulated differed between male and female officers, with male officers experiencing more difficulty than female officers in terms of positioning their identity within the evolving police culture. The findings from this study have implications for gender policies in the workforce as they suggest that men may experience more difficulty than women in adjusting to a gender-diverse workforce, and that professional identity within traditionally male professions is more complex and nuanced than what was previously assumed.

随着传统男性职业中性别平等政策和性别平衡目标的增加，警察服务等组织正在经历人口结构的变化。这些转变如何影响职业认同的构建尚不清楚。本研究利用焦点小组数据，旨在使用主题分析方法探索跨性别警察的身份构建。发现与身份建构相关的两个主题对男性和女性警察来说都是共同的：“在蓝色家庭中工作”和“做一个铜人是终生的工作”。然而，男性和女性警官表达这些主题的方式不同，男性警官比女性警官在不断发展的警察文化中定位自己的身份方面遇到更多困难。