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Police Corruption in Thirty Agencies in the United States, 1997
This study examined police officers' perceptions of and
tolerance for corruption. In contrast to the popular viewpoint that
police corruption is a result of moral defects in the individual
police officer, this study investigated corruption from an
organizational viewpoint. The approach examined the ways rules are
communicated to officers, how rules are enforced by supervisors,
including sanctions for violation of ethical guidelines, the unspoken
code against reporting the misconduct of a fellow officer, and the
influence of public expectations about police behavior. For the
survey, a questionnaire describing 11 hypothetical scenarios of police
misconduct was administered to 30 police agencies in the United
States. Specifically, officers were asked to compare the violations in
terms of seriousness and to assess the level of sanctions each
violation of policies and procedures both should and would likely
receive. For each instance of misconduct, officers were asked about
the extent to which they supported agency discipline for it and their
willingness to report it. Scenarios included issues such as off-duty
private business, free meals, bribes for speeding, free gifts,
stealing, drinking on duty, and use of excessive force. Additional
information was collected about the officers' personal
characteristics, such as length of time in the police force (in
general and at their agency), the size of the agency, and the level of
rank the officer held.
Complete Metadata
| @type | dcat:Dataset |
|---|---|
| accessLevel | public |
| bureauCode |
[
"011:21"
]
|
| contactPoint |
{
"fn": "Open Data Office of Justice Programs (USDOJ)",
"@type": "vcard:Contact",
"hasEmail": "mailto:opendata@usdoj.gov"
}
|
| dataQuality |
false
|
| description | This study examined police officers' perceptions of and tolerance for corruption. In contrast to the popular viewpoint that police corruption is a result of moral defects in the individual police officer, this study investigated corruption from an organizational viewpoint. The approach examined the ways rules are communicated to officers, how rules are enforced by supervisors, including sanctions for violation of ethical guidelines, the unspoken code against reporting the misconduct of a fellow officer, and the influence of public expectations about police behavior. For the survey, a questionnaire describing 11 hypothetical scenarios of police misconduct was administered to 30 police agencies in the United States. Specifically, officers were asked to compare the violations in terms of seriousness and to assess the level of sanctions each violation of policies and procedures both should and would likely receive. For each instance of misconduct, officers were asked about the extent to which they supported agency discipline for it and their willingness to report it. Scenarios included issues such as off-duty private business, free meals, bribes for speeding, free gifts, stealing, drinking on duty, and use of excessive force. Additional information was collected about the officers' personal characteristics, such as length of time in the police force (in general and at their agency), the size of the agency, and the level of rank the officer held. |
| distribution |
[
{
"@type": "dcat:Distribution",
"title": "Police Corruption in Thirty Agencies in the United States, 1997 ",
"accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR02629.v1"
}
]
|
| identifier |
"3716"
|
| issued | 1999-08-18T00:00:00 |
| keyword |
[
"law enforcement agencies",
"perceptions",
"police corruption",
"police misconduct",
"police officers",
"policies and procedures",
"professional ethics",
"sanctions"
]
|
| language |
[
"eng"
]
|
| license | http://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/ |
| modified | 2005-11-04T00:00:00 |
| programCode |
[
"011:060"
]
|
| publisher |
{
"name": "National Institute of Justice",
"@type": "org:Organization",
"subOrganizationOf": {
"id": 22,
"name": "Office of Justice Programs",
"acronym": "OJP",
"parentOrganization": {
"id": 10,
"name": "Department of Justice",
"acronym": "DOJ"
},
"parentOrganizationID": 10
}
}
|
| title | Police Corruption in Thirty Agencies in the United States, 1997 |
