Police Information

Preventing Police Corruption

Wed, September 19, 2001

Source: Tim New

Understanding And Preventing Police Corruption Policing & Reducing Crime Briefing Note

A series of public scandals over the past few years, albeit apparently involving a small number of officers, has caused concern about the standard of ethics and integrity within the police service. Discussion of police corruption has again been placed under the official and public spotlight. 

This report contributes to the debate by providing a common level of knowledge and understanding of the key issues in police integrity and corruption, with a specific emphasis on the causes of corruption and the efficacy of different prevention strategies. Other issues of relevance include the links between integrity (and lapses in it) and the development of corruption, and the strategies for instilling organisational values and integrity in staff. The report does not provide an assessment of the current extent or nature of police corruption in the United Kingdom. 

The review covers the main English language literature on the issues of police corruption and police ethics over the past 20 years. It includes the sociological and criminological literature, together with a review of the main ‘official inquiries’ from the United States and Australia. While the majority of material is drawn from the experiences of police forces in the US and Australia, this is not exclusively the case. Where material is available in other jurisdictions, this has also been included. 

Summary 

A historical perspective

The report begins with a brief overview of the recent history of police corruption in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. What such a review suggests is that there has been corruption for as long as there have been police forces. Although there is evidence to suggest that most police forces experience problems with corruption some of the time, major scandals emerge relatively infrequently. In some forces, such as New York, there have been regular scandals every 20 years or so. In most other forces scandals, if they do occur, tend to do so with less frequency. Nonetheless, there are few major police forces that do not have some example of problems of corruption in their history. Where scandals have occurred and investigations have brought to light details of corruption, it is not just officers at the bottom of the rank structure that are involved in organised malpractice. There are numerous examples of very senior officers, as well as those below them, becoming involved in regular, organised corruption. 

The problem of definition

Most definitions agree that corruption involves an abuse of authority, that it includes more than simply proscribed activities, and is not limited to financial corruption but also includes (at least some) activities that tend to come under the rubric of ‘process corruption’. The report suggests that finding a definition that makes the boundaries of corruption/non-corruption clear is highly problematic. This is primarily because the boundaries are inevitably unclear, being essentially governed by ethical considerations.

A question of ethics 

Key ethical questions in any consideration of police corruption concern where the line is to be drawn between ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ behaviour by officers. These include such issues as the use of unethical means to achieve what are perceived to be ‘morally good ends’, the acceptance of ‘gratuities’ and the idea of the ‘slippery slope’. At the heart of all these issues is the recognition that there are no hard and fast answers to questions of what constitutes police integrity, but that it is within a consideration of integrity and ethics that the most constructive way forward most likely lies. 

The causes of corruption

A number of key themes emerge in any discussion of the causes and sources of corruption. First, it is clear that there is much in the nature of policing as a set of activities that has a tendency to encourage corruption. Secondly, the extent of corruption in a particular force at a particular time is influenced by a number of other varying factors, including opportunities for corruption and ethical standards. There is also evidence that changes in the environment in which policing takes place also have an impact on corruption. 

Drugs 

Having discussed the generally agreed key factors in the development of corruption, the report looks briefly at the policing of drugs, thought by many to be the source of considerable new dangers of corruption within the police service. The report argues that those areas of police work, such as the policing of drugs and other illicit markets, that have the strongest link with, or are closest to, the ‘invitational edge’ of corruption are also those which are generally subject to the least managerial scrutiny. Increasingly these areas are also associated with extraordinarily large sums of money and therefore very high levels of (financial) temptation. Corruption control and prevention strategies In forces where corrupt practices have been rife, a range of strategies have been implemented with the aim of reducing, if not eliminating, corruption. However, in many cases those forces have once again been thrown into crisis as corruption has re-emerged some period after the original reforms. The central conclusion is that although it is unrealistic to think that corruption can be eliminated, there is good evidence to suggest that it can be controlled and that full-scale or organizational corruption can be prevented. 

Key findings 

The review concludes with eleven key messages central to any understanding of corruption and which should underpin reforms introduced for its prevention: 

• Police corruption is pervasive, continuing and not bounded by rank; 
• Any definition of corruption should cover both ‘financial’ and ‘process’ corruption, and should acknowledge the varying means, ends and motives of corrupt activities; 
• The boundary between ‘corrupt’ and ‘non-corrupt ‘ activities is difficult to define, primarily because this is at heart an ethical problem; 
• Police corruption cannot simply be explained as the product of a few ‘bad apples’; 
• The ‘causes’ of corruption include: factors that are intrinsic to policing as a job; the nature of police organisations; the nature of ‘police culture’; the opportunities for corruption presented by the ‘political’ and ‘task’ environments; and, the nature and extent of the effort put in to controlling corruption; 
• Some areas of policing are more prone to corruption than others; 
• Although there are many barriers to successful corruption control, there is evidence that police agencies can be reformed; 
• Reform needs to go beyond the immediately identified problem; 
• Reform must look at the political and task environments as well as the organisation itself; 
• Reform tends not to be durable; and  
• Continued vigilance and scepticism is vital.

To view the full paper click the URL below