Part V Independent Institutions

Presenting a comprehensive overview of the potential for police misconduct worldwide, leading criminal justice scholars have compiled survey and case data from 10 countries chronicling police integrity and misconduct.

Integrity and corruption have become important issues in the practice and theory of politics, public administration, law, economics and social life. Consequently, they have also become significant topics for law enforcement organisations. Indeed, these organisations play a crucial role in the struggle against corruption in society, and, in order to do that, their own integrity must be beyond doubt. This volume, with contributions by 35 authors from 13 countries in five continents, offers a comprehensive overview of "corruption, integrity and law enforcement". The related papers were presented at the Second Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity that took place in The Hague in May 2001. The content and extent of the problem of corruption are presented via case studies from individual countries. Furthermore, corruption and integrity in the law enforcement system itself are highlighted, and the legal instruments that are available to combat corruption and to safeguard integrity are discussed. Special attention is paid here to independent institutions that operate in several countries. Finally, several contributions focus on the global dimension of the subject: the international organisations and initiatives that play an important role in the world-wide struggle against corruption. This volume is therefore of great relevance for policy makers and academic researchers, as well as for practitioners.

This Brief proposes a criminological typology for understanding and addressing police misconduct. Through examination of each major type of police misconduct, the author proposes future research directions to deter and prevent misconduct. According to an examination of 50 years of police misconduct cases within the New York Police Department (NYPD) and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the author proposes 5 major typologies: police corruption, police criminality, excessive use of force, abuse of authority, and police misconduct. Through a systematic examination of each of these five types, the author aims to break down the nebulous topic of police misbehavior into manageable categories, with their own set of causes, and recommendations for detection and prevention. This work will be of interest for researchers in criminology and criminal justice, particularly with an interest in police studies, and related fields such as public policy and sociology. It will also be of interest for policymakers.

This book provides an examination of noble cause, how it emerges as a fundamental principle of police ethics and how it can provide the basis for corruption. The noble cause — a commitment to "doing something about bad people" — is a central "ends-based" police ethic that can be corrupted when officers violate the law on behalf of personally held moral values. This book is about the power that police use to do their work and how it can corrupt police at the individual and organizational levels. It provides students of policing with a realistic understanding of the kinds of problems they will confront in the practice of police work.

Presents the proceedings of the Nat. Symposium on Police Integrity with participants including police chiefs, sheriffs, police researchers, police officers, members of other professional disciplines, community leaders, and members of other Federal agencies. Plenary sessions and working groups address integrity and ethics; challenges facing the law enforcement executive profession; the impact of police culture, leadership, and organization on integrity; how to effectively cope with influences in the police organization and culture and community; and the impact of internal systems and external forces on police integrity. Bibliography.

Policing in South Africa has gained notoriety through its extensive history of oppressive law enforcement. In 1994, as the country’s apartheid system was replaced with a democratic order, the new government faced the significant challenge of transforming the South African police force into a democratic police agency—the South African Police Service (SAPS)—that would provide unbiased policing to all the country’s people. More than two decades since the initiation of the reforms, it appears that the SAPS has rapidly developed a reputation as a police agency beset by challenges to its integrity. This book offers a unique perspective by providing in-depth analyses of police integrity in South Africa. It is a case study that systematically and empirically explores the contours of police integrity in a young democracy. Using the organizational theory of police integrity, the book analyzes the complex set of historical, legal, political, social, and economic circumstances shaping police integrity. A discussion of the theoretical framework is accompanied by the results of a nationwide survey of nearly 900 SAPS officers, probing their familiarity with official rules, their expectations of discipline within the SAPS, and their willingness to report misconduct. The book also examines the influence of the respondents’ race, gender, and supervisory status on police integrity. Written in a clear and direct style, this book will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, policing, sociology, political science, as well as to police administrators interested in expanding their knowledge about police integrity and enhancing it in their organizations.